Chemical Company Owner Sentenced in Illegal Dumping
The owner of a chemical company in Flint has been sentenced to a year behind bars for dumping landfill waste into Flint’s sewer system.
Robert Massey, owner of Oil Chem, Inc., pleaded guilty in January on charges of violating the Clean Water Act. Charges were brought against Massey by federal prosecutors in December after an investigation revealed he knowingly discharged about 47 million gallons of untreated, liquid landfill leachate waste from eight different landfills from 2007 – 2015 into Flint’s sewers.
Records show the company had a Clean Water Act permit to discharge some industrial waste into the sewer system, where it would be treated at a wastewater treatment plant. However, the permit didn’t allow for landfill leachate waste to be dumped, which Massey directed his employees to do.
