Co. goes free, officer gets18 mo's for intentional .5 ton Cl release

[ttweed@wildrockies.org (Tony Tweedale)]

Plant officials sentenced to prison in LCP pollution
                                           case
                                           By The Associated Press

                                           Brunswick -- A federal judge has
sentenced one
                                           former LCP Chemicals-Georgia
Inc. official to 18
                                           months in prison and another to
nine months for
                                           their roles in what a government
agency says may
                                           be the worst case of industrial
pollution ever in the
                                           Southeast.

                                           D. Brent Hanson, the Brunswick
plant's former
                                           environmental manager, was
sentenced to 18 months in prison, fined $5,000, given one
                                           year of probation and 150 hours
of community service by Senior U.S. District Judge
                                           Anthony Alaimo following nearly
three hours of testimony Monday.

                                           James Christopher Dunn, a former
assistant production manager, was sentenced to nine
                                           months in prison, a year of
probation and 120 hours of community service.


                                           Hanson, of St. Simons Island,
pleaded guilty in December to failing to report to the
                                           National Response Center a
discharge of 1,056 pounds of chlorine release from the plant
                                           in 1993. Dunn pleaded guilty
last May to discharging pollutants into the environment
                                           and to harming wood storks.

                                           Former owners AlliedSignal Inc.,
ARCO and Georgia Power Co. have spent more than $40
                                           million in the cleanup of
mercury, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls and other
                                           contaminants on the 550-acre
site. The plant closed in 1994.

                                           Before the cleanup began, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, had called the area,
                                           which is now an EPA Superfund
site, one of the most polluted in the nation.

                                           Alaimo decided not to fine LCP
Chemicals-Georgia Inc. after federal probation officer
                                           Phil Lyons said it would hinder
debtors who are waiting for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
                                           in New Jersey to disperse cash
from the sale of LCP's few assets.

                                           Lyons, who conducted a
pre-sentencing investigation, said company documents indicated
                                           that Hanson knew how to report
such spills, in spite of testimony that he had erred in
                                           reporting the incident to the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

                                           Lyons added that Hanson could
have left LCP when the environmental damage occurred,
                                           but remained to maintain his income.

                                           ''I deeply regret my role at
LCP,'' Hanson said. ''If I had it to do over again, I would quit
                                           immediately. I was not brave
enough to quit at that time.''

                                           In handing down Dunn's sentence,
Alaimo noted that he had discharged contaminated
                                           water from a 16,000-gallon
railroad tank car into the marsh.

                                           EPA special agent Paul D.
Okerberg said Dunn, who currently works in Rome, was
                                           cooperative in the investigation.

                                           ''I don't think he ever lied to
me. He was very open and honest about what went on with
                                           that plant,'' Okerberg said.

                                           The three company officials
convicted of numerous violations in January are still
                                           awaiting sentencing.

                                           Christian A. Hansen Jr., the
former chief executive officer of the Hanlin Group Inc.,
                                           LCP's parent company, was found
guilty of 41 violations of federal anti-pollution laws.
                                           His son, Randall W. Hansen, the
former chief operating officer, was found guilty of 34
                                           counts. Former plant manager
Alfred R. Taylor of Brunswick was found guilty of 41
                                           counts.

                                           Alaimo gave Hanson 30 days to
report to prison.