Rexburg man found guilty of storing hazardous waste
A 73-year-old man who stored thousands of containers of flammable and corrosive materials near Rexburg was found guilty of knowingly storing and disposing of hazardous waste, a felony.
Max Spatig of Rexburg was convicted after a two-week trial in federal court, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced Tuesday.
In July 2010, authorities found 3,478 containers of hazardous waste materials on the property near the Archer-Lyman Highway. Many of the containers were labeled as containing hazardous materials, and many were corroded and leaking.
“For years, the defendant knowingly stored hazardous waste without regard to the dangers it posed to the public and to the environment,” said Lance Ehrig, acting special agent in charge of Environmental Protection Agency’s criminal enforcement program for Idaho. “When EPA’s emergency response team first arrived on the defendant’s property, they found thousands of containers filled with corrosive and ignitable hazardous waste.”
During the investigation, environmental officials expressed worries the materials would spontaneously combust if left alone.
The contents of the containers were shipped to a hazardous waste disposal facility, costing the federal government nearly half a million dollars.
Neither Spatig nor his company, MS Enterprises, had state or federal permits for the waste.
This isn’t the first time the government has cleaned up after Spatig.
In 2005, the State of Idaho cleaned up hazardous waste from another property belonging to Spatig near Menan. The cost of that cleanup was $188,000. And before that, Spatig engaged in similar conduct in Kaysville, Utah, authorities said.
Spatig is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 24. The conviction for storing and disposing of hazardous waste without a permit carries a penalty up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release.
Because of multiple violations of court orders prior to trial and offenses committed while on pretrial release, Spatig has been in custody since September of last year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“Illegally storing hazardous materials puts society at risk,” said Olson. “We are deeply concerned about the threat to public safety and to our environment. Investigation and prosecution of these cases will continue to be a priority for our state and federal partners and for this office.”
