Firm penalized $500,000 for putting soapy water into Irwin stream
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A New Jersey company that washed trucks for the U.S. Postal Service from 2007 through 2010 will pay penalties totaling $500,000 for polluting Tinkers Run in Irwin, Westmoreland County, with the soapy runoff.
Officials of Professional Mobile Cleaning Inc. of Fairfield, N.J., Thursday pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to illegally dumping the dirty water into the creek, which flows through Irwin and into Turtle Creek, a tributary of the Monongahela River.
The Postal Service contract with the firm required it to collect and properly dispose of the wash water.
The plea agreement, accepted by U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry, requires the truck washing firm to pay $300,000 restitution to the postal Service, and a $9,000 criminal fine. According to a U.S. Department of Justice release, it also requires the company to pay $191,000 to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
First Published November 30, 2012 1:56 pm
