Former PA Hess Lab Prez Pleads to hundreds of frauds

[ttweed@wildrockies.org (Tony Tweedale)]

sorry for the cross-posts.
seems a suitable companion to Craven Labs, Industrial BioTest (IBT),
ACGIH's TLV's (secretely derived occuptnl exposure "safe" levels many of
which are still equivalent to whatever level the comapny measured in the
air(!), and many of which OSHA still uses as their Permissible Exposure
Levels),  and other sagas.  IBT involved untold thousands of fradulent
tests contracted by industry for regulatory approvals and was the driving
force in FIFRA '88's requirement that every single pesticide registration
be reregistered.  EPA was tacitly admitting they had no idea which of tens
of thousands of industry contracted tests they had based their regulatory
approval on were fraudulent.

Given the expense of many tox. assays and the ease with which fraudulent
results can be substituted; and given the whole regulatory agency approval
of industry activity scheme is based on the industries giving money to
private labs, or doing it in-house--i.e. the whole system is on the honor
system--is it any wonder that enviros in the know don't like to buy in to
the regulatory agency-industry pardigm?

Former Pennsylvania Laboratory President Pleads Guilty

In the latest chapter of a continuing saga about a
well-known environmental testing firm, William
L. Hopkins, Jr., (Buck Hill Falls, Pa), former
president of Hess Environmental Laboratories and
R.K.R. Hess Associates Inc. (East Stroudsburg,
Pa), recently pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to four
felonies.

Hopkins admitted that he aided and abetted a
violation of the Clean Water Act, conspired to
defraud the United States, aided and abetted the
making of false statements to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
U.S. Army, and committed mail fraud. All of these
charges resulted from the defrauding of hundreds
of Hess Laboratories customers who were billed
at least $2.1 million for environmental lab tests
that were falsely reported or never performed.

The customers included: numerous
municipalities, many environmental consulting
firms and contractors, schools, the National Park
Service, state agencies, Mack Trucks, the
Tobyhana Army Depot, Kraft Foods, Air Products
and Chemicals, and Wal-Mart among others.
Customers, the EPA, and the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection relied
upon the truthful, complete, and accurate
reporting of these tests to ensure compliance
with environmental laws, and to determine the
necessary corrective measures in cases where
the presence of hazardous materials was
indicated.

Hopkins faces a maximum of up to 18 years
imprisonment and/or fines of up to $1 million.
The case was investigated by the EPA's Criminal
Investigation Division, the Agency's Office of
Inspector General, and the Criminal Investigation
Division of the U.S. Army. The EPA's National
Enforcement Investigations Center also assisted
in the investigation.
                         Edited by Ian Lisk

Tony Tweedale

Causality is a concept not subject to empirical demonstration. -David Hume
(1711-'76)