Fayette County man and environmental company he owned charged with contaminating local landfill - West Virginia MetroNews

Fayette County man and environmental company he owned charged with contaminating local landfill - WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Fayette County man is being sentenced for violating the Clean Water Act.

Michael Graves, 68, of Charlton Heights will be doing one year in jail, a five year probation, and will pay $10,000 dollars for allowing contaminated liquid to pass through a landfill.

Graves company he owned and managed, West Virginia Environmental Services is also responsible for the acts, and it was fined $500,000 and placed on corporate probation for three years.

According to court documents and statements, Graves and WVES managed an industrial waste landfill in Fayette County and were paid over $9.8 million from 2006 to 2020 to accept industrial waste and treat the resulting leachate.

This contaminated liquid that is generated from water and percolates through a solid waste disposal site includes toxic materials that must be properly treated prior to being discharged into a stream or tributary.

The sole remaining task of Graves and WVES was to collect and treat the leachate since no new waste was being accepted at the Fayette County landfill after 2008, however, they failed to maintain the landfill’s leachate collection for several years beginning in at least 2016.

This mistake caused the leachate discharge containing toxic pollutants be released into Jarret Branch, a tributary that flows into the Kanawha River near Alloy. The toxic pollutants that flowed into that tributary included arsenic among others.

West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection officials repeatedly documented the illegal discharges, which racked up numerous violations against Graves and WVES.

The Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the landfill has since lapsed and has not been renewed.

U.S. Attorney Will Thompson had this to say following the violations against Graves and WVES.

“Mr. Graves and WVES continuously and repeatedly allowed discharges of untreated toxic industrial pollutants into the nation’s waters, despite having been paid millions of dollars to properly maintain the landfill,” Thompson said.

“The defendants abused the public trust that accompanied the issuance of the discharge permit. This outcome, which includes the maximum possible fine against WVES, reflects the egregious nature and circumstances of the offenses and is necessary to promote respect for the law and to deter similar criminal conduct,” he continued.

Thompson commended the work of the Criminal Investigative Division of the Environmental Protection Agency and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection following the investigation.

Graves and WVES each pleaded guilty to one felony count of violation of the Clean Water Act on February 22, 2023.

On May 5, 2022, the Department launched the Office of Environmental Justice and announced a comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy, which helps enforce federal laws to protect the environment and human health in all communities within the district.

The United States Attorney’s Office encourages the public to report suspected environmental violations within the district. Reports may be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency or by email, mail, or phone to the United States Attorney’s Office.