Seattle Barrel and Cooperage Company’s 55-year-old owner was sentenced on Friday to 18 months in prison and a $250,000 fine for a history of pollution, according to U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman.
The company was charged with conspiracy, making false statements, and 33 Clean Water Act violations, according to U.S. Attorney Gorman. U.S. Attorney Gorman said since at least 2009, the company was under a discharge permit which means they couldn’t dump their waste over a certain pH into the sewer system. Waste over a certain pH would corrode the sewer system and potentially pollute Elliot Bay and the Puget Sound.
On March 8, 2019, the covert monitors pinpointed when Seattle Barrel was dumping the wastewater. Agents immediately got a search warrant and inside found a portable pump on the floor near the tank of caustic solution. They found out the pump was being used to pump solution to a hidden drain which led directly to the sewer system.