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Almost anyone can tell you dumping hazardous chemicals into the ground isn't a good idea. It can even get you into big trouble. The Environmental Protection Agency has guidelines defining what those chemicals are and says a Kaysville businessman was in violation of properly disposing them.
Jay Atwater is small business owner who specializes in old furniture. His business, Heritage Furniture Restoration in Kaysville, has been around since 1979. However, the government says lately he's been doing something he shouldn't be doing.
Atwater is facing charges related to getting rid of chemical waste. U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman said, "It's the thing that could potentially pose the greatest threat to the highest amount of people. It's one of those issues we all recognize. Contamination in water or in ground or in any level can provide great harm to animals, people, etc."
Heritage Furniture Restoration uses a chemical called methylene chloride to strip old paint off furniture. The EPA says solutions containing 10 percent or more methylene chloride are a hazardous waste once discarded. Atwater is charged with dumping solutions containing about 75 percent methylene chloride down a sink.
"We all can be tired of regulations and rules, but they're there and they need to be followed," Tolman said.
Atwater says there is another side to this story that hasn't come out yet. However, he says his attorney told him not to talk to anybody about it until they both meet tomorrow afternoon and come up with a plan to deal with this case.
Kaysville resident Julie Muir said, "I just can't imagine him doing anything that would hurt the environment,"
Muir knows Atwater and doesn't think he would ever knowingly do something wrong. "He doesn't have that big a business, so there's not a huge pollution. They should be going after people that do huge things on purpose," she said.
But Tolman said, "And it should be a message to all those that deal with waste to follow those regulations to meet with EPA and others to make sure that they're in compliance."
Atwater is facing three years in jail and a quarter-million dollar fine for each of the three charges he's facing.
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
