In the end, it may have come down to the workers.
One by one, they took the witness stand and testified about benzene emissions and toxic sludge and how Tonawanda Coke seemed nervous about government inspectors.
A jury, after listening to those workers, found Tonawanda Coke and one of its executives guilty today of polluting the air and ground at its River Road plant.
The panel of 12 men and women deliberated much of the day before returning guilty verdicts in 14 of the 19 criminal charges against the company and 15 of the 19 charges against Mark L. Kamholz, its environmental controls manager.
“Justice was served,” said Jackie James Creedon, founder of the Tonawanda Community Fund, a local citizens group. “It was a message to all industrial polluters.”
The verdict followed four weeks of testimony by more than 30 witnesses, many of them former and current Tonawanda Coke employees who testified about clean air violations and improper waste handling.
“I think the testimony from workers was very compelling,” said Erin Heaney, executive director of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York. “I want to thank those workers for coming forward.”
Defense lawyers and company executives declined to comment after the verdict, which came after several hours of deliberation by the jury and just a day after lawyers on both sides gave their summations.
The case, believed to be the biggest local environmental trial in years and only the second criminal prosecution nationally involving the Clean Air Act, centered around a wide range of allegations.
Six of the 19 charges dealt with a little-known bleeder valve that spewed coke oven gas with benzene into the air.
The company also stood accused of using “quenching” or cooling towers that lacked necessary anti-pollution equipment, and of illegally disposing of coal tar sludge, one of the byproducts of its coking operation.
The jury found the company and Kamholz guilty of all three allegations but not guilty of similar charges related to one of the two quenching towers.
“This was an historic case on many levels," said U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. “In the end, this was all about Tonawanda Coke and Mark Kamholz putting profits ahead of people.”
News Staff Reporter Matt Gryta contributed to this report.
email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com
One by one, they took the witness stand and testified about benzene emissions and toxic sludge and how Tonawanda Coke seemed nervous about government inspectors.
A jury, after listening to those workers, found Tonawanda Coke and one of its executives guilty today of polluting the air and ground at its River Road plant.
The panel of 12 men and women deliberated much of the day before returning guilty verdicts in 14 of the 19 criminal charges against the company and 15 of the 19 charges against Mark L. Kamholz, its environmental controls manager.
“Justice was served,” said Jackie James Creedon, founder of the Tonawanda Community Fund, a local citizens group. “It was a message to all industrial polluters.”
The verdict followed four weeks of testimony by more than 30 witnesses, many of them former and current Tonawanda Coke employees who testified about clean air violations and improper waste handling.
“I think the testimony from workers was very compelling,” said Erin Heaney, executive director of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York. “I want to thank those workers for coming forward.”
Defense lawyers and company executives declined to comment after the verdict, which came after several hours of deliberation by the jury and just a day after lawyers on both sides gave their summations.
The case, believed to be the biggest local environmental trial in years and only the second criminal prosecution nationally involving the Clean Air Act, centered around a wide range of allegations.
Six of the 19 charges dealt with a little-known bleeder valve that spewed coke oven gas with benzene into the air.
The company also stood accused of using “quenching” or cooling towers that lacked necessary anti-pollution equipment, and of illegally disposing of coal tar sludge, one of the byproducts of its coking operation.
The jury found the company and Kamholz guilty of all three allegations but not guilty of similar charges related to one of the two quenching towers.
“This was an historic case on many levels," said U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. “In the end, this was all about Tonawanda Coke and Mark Kamholz putting profits ahead of people.”
News Staff Reporter Matt Gryta contributed to this report.
email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com