Published in the Ocean County Observer
BY LAWRENCE MEEGAN
STAFF WRITER
TOMS RIVER — Two United Water of Toms River employees were fined $5,000 each for their part in the company's failure to report some radiological exceedances in Dover Township's drinking water to the state Department of Environmental Protection. In addition, George Flegal, the company's former general manager, and Richard Ottens, the system's former operations manager, both face two-year suspensions of their state water operator's licenses. Both are cited by the state DEP for manipulating drinking water sources so compliance sampling would conceal actual water quality.
Neither Flegal nor Ottens are employed by United Water, said Richard W. Henning, the company's vice president of communication.
The DEP charges that in September Flegal and Ottens both shut down the system's Well No. 35 before a scheduled sampling for radionuclides. The DEP claims the pair apparently believed high levels in that water source would exceed acceptable contamination levels.
The DEP fined United Water of Toms River $64,000 for failing to notify the DEP and the public about radiation contamination found in 2005.
"We promised the (Dover Township) Council in February we would conduct a full investigation in how we could miss reporting the high levels," said Henning. "We conducted that investigation and turned it over to the DEP and the Attorney General's Office. They are now in the throes of their own investigation."
"No one asked us to conduct the investigation," he said. "We did it on our own because what was done was contrary to the way we do business."
"It's very upsetting," said Dover Township Mayor Paul C. Brush about the latest revelations concerning the operators. "We want to pursue this criminally."
"In my mind this has to be criminal," said Township Council President Gregory P. McGuckin, who is also an attorney.
"The state Attorney General is investigating and I hope that a full investigation is completed and a criminal prosecution is sought," he said.
"This wasn't just some of the lower-level laborers who did this but higher-ups in the company and for the life of me I can't see why the corporation isn't being fined," he said of the new allegations.
"Two months ago when it came out they did not report the exceedances, we said it seemed a clearly intentional act, but they insisted that was not the case," he said. "This proves we were right, that they were hiding the results of their tests. They were deliberately distorting the data."
About that time the Township Council asked the state Legislature to make it a third-degree criminal offense for not reporting radiological exceedances in water reports, said McGuckin.
"Sen. (Andrew R.) Ciesla (R-Ocean) introduced it as S-1722 and Assemblymen (David W.) Wolfe and (James W.) Holzapfel (both R-Ocean) introduced a companion bill (A-2958). We ask the Legislature to act immediately and make it law," he said.
"The council will be directing the law department to immediately amend the complaint filed before the Board of Public Utilities to include these new discoveries about intentional manipulation of testing and urge the BPU to revoke their franchise," said McGuckin.
"I believe this strengthens our case," said the mayor. "It shows that our petition to the BPU is a credible petition."
Henning said the company has implemented changes in the way it does business.
"We installed new management with Miss Nadine Leslie, who has been the manager there since January," he said. "We also instituted new policies and procedures for reporting to insure it would never happen again."
"Without accurate, reliable and timely water-quality data, our ability to protect the safety of the public's drinking water is seriously compromised," said DEP Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson in a press release. "The failures and fraud we uncovered highlighted once again the vital role DEP plays in investigating late, deficient and inaccurate reporting and strengthens our resolve to take tough action if water-system data or operations in any way fall short of state and federal safe-drinking water laws."
Flegal and Ottens can appeal the penalties and suspensions before a judge in the Office of Administrative Law, according to the DEP.
Published in the Ocean County Observer 05/11/06
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