Inspectors, Prosecutors vs. ‘Midnight Dumpers’ : Center Trains Enforcers of Waste Laws

EDISON, N. J. —  In a weedy field amid abandoned railroad tracks and stacks of 55-gallon drums stands an old brick firehouse renamed Butch’s Hauling.

Here a tanker truck parked next to a sewer drain sets the stage for “midnight dumpers” to dispose of hazardous wastes illegally--and for investigators to practice catching them.

Hundreds of police and environmental agents gather at Butch’s Hauling each year to practice running down reports of illegal dumping. They are battling a national problem that is particularly acute in the dense Northeast, with its heavy industries, high disposal costs and scarcity of landfills.

The training center is run by the Northeast Hazardous Waste Project, formed in 1980 to fight illegal chemical dumping in 14 states, and as a model for similar projects elsewhere.

Concern of the ‘80s

“Prior to 1980, there was not really any formalized institution to go after the criminal dumpers legally,” said Jeanne E. Rush, director of the Northeast Project. “I don’t think there was an awareness of how critical the problem was. After that, everything started being of concern to the states.”

The Northeast Project has organized 25 training programs, most of them three-day courses, for 1,500 participants from local, state and federal agencies that include the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency.

“A lot of criminal prosecutors don’t have the background in environmental prosecutions,” Rush said. “There are a lot of aspects of an environmental criminal trial that are different than a regular homicide trial.”

The trainees are taught how to raid illegal dumps, collect evidence and prepare search warrants.

There is an “awareness” course that helps members of various agencies put aside competing interests and work together.

“With this training, we now have a lot more respect and tolerance for what the other group is doing,” said Linda Range of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Dump Inspectors’ Course

Another course is designed for inspectors of approved hazardous waste facilities, and an advanced course teaches how to investigate a mock waste case.

First, the trainers set up the scene by dumping drums labeled as containing toxic material. They empty tainted water into sewers and arrange for a tipster to telephone the class.

The trainees put on protective suits and masks and go to work investigating the tip as they would in a real case.

They refer to files created for the project to investigate the company involved. They take samples of the wastes and seek clues from the drum labels.

“It helps to understand the complexities or crack decisions you have to make,” project training chairman Jay Strauch said of the instruction he received in 1983.

Cooperation Is Key

“The thing that it taught me the most was cooperation with regulatory people. You have to have somebody tell you what you’re dealing with,” said Strauch, a criminal investigator in Ohio.

The project also gives state officials a way to exchange information, coordinate enforcement and laws being passed in their respective states.

“The association has been extremely beneficial in promoting the federal-state partnership in environmental enforcement,” said Carroll G. Wills of the EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center in Denver.

The states in the Northeast Project are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.