A Leetsdale copper processing company is expected to plead guilty in federal court for multiple violations of the Clean Water Act over a five-year period, including making false reports and failing to report oil sheens on the Ohio River.
Hussey Copper was charged on Monday with three felony counts, and corporate officials are scheduled to appear in court for a plea and sentencing hearing on Dec. 15. Hussey Copper Ltd. was founded in Pittsburgh in 1848 and moved to Leetsdale in 1963.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, from 2012 to 2017, the company submitted false discharge monitoring reports for its manufacturing facility on the Ohio River, changing the amount of oil and copper that were discharged to fall within applicable limits through the company’s state-issued permit.
In addition, federal prosecutors said that for at least six years — from 2012 to 2018 — Hussey was discharging oil in a quantity sufficient to create oil sheens on the Ohio River but failed to report any to the state Department of Environmental Protection or the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
According to the government, Hussey had internal logs documenting hundreds of sheens at two of the company’s outfalls on the Ohio River, but did not report them.
In one instance, the prosecution said, in July 2016, a corporate officer told DEP there had been no sheens in the prior 13 months, when there had actually been dozens.
The charges include submitting a false discharge monitoring report; discharging a quantity of oil that may be harmful to the environment and failing to make immediate required notification of such oil discharge. The company could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Attorney James Becker, who represents Hussey Copper, said he could not address possible penalties, but that the company is pleased the matter is going to soon be resolved.
“It takes environmental compliance very seriously and has already implemented additional measures going forward,” he said.
