Prison Sentences for Former Atlantic States Officials

According to the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, two former officials of McWane Inc. subsidiary Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. have been sentenced to prison for environmental and workplace safety violations. Sentences for two more executives and the company are expected this week. The Phillipsburg, NJ, foundry is one of the nation’s largest producers of ductile iron pressure pipe. The charges date back to 1999, and were filed in 2003. They involve discharges of oil into the Delaware River, concealing worker injuries from health and safety inspectors, and maintaining a dangerous workplace that contributed to multiple severe injuries and the death of one employee. The trial is said to have been the longest ever prosecuted by the Justice Department for environmental violations. The guilty verdict was delivered in 2006. Former Atlantic States plant manager John Prisque was sentenced to 70 months in prison for criminal conspiracy, polluting the air and Delaware River, and concealing up safety violations. Former Atlantic States human resource manager Scott Faubert was sentenced to 41 months in prison. Former maintenance supervisor Jeffrey Maury was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and former finishing superintendent Craig Davidson to six months in prison. In addition, Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. was fined $8 million. The company had been named in each count of the indictment and was convicted on five counts of making materially false statements to state and federal environmental agencies and the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA); four counts of obstructing OSHA investigations; 22 counts of violating the federal Clean Water Act; and one count of violating the Clean Air Act. Former engineering manager Daniel Yadzinski was acquitted on three counts.