Sewage problems bring criminal probe
John Henderer, The Chronicle, 7/24/97
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conducting a criminal investigation into problems at the Onalaska sewage treatment plant.
The EPA began its review shortly after the state Department of Ecology found sewage practically untreated being discharged into the Newaukum River in early June, said Kathie Emmett, a DOE compliance officer.
Plant operator Ken Atkinson resigned his post last Thursday, and the EPA is reportedly seeking his whereabouts.
Former plant operator Clay Anderson said an EPA investigator interviewed him for about 40 minutes Tuesday at his Chehalis job site, asking about plant operations other issues.
"I think they're looking for falsification of the lab reports and the daily (log) reports," Anderson said.
Anderson said the investigator asked him whether he knew where to find Atkinson.
Sandra Smith, a special agent in the EPA's criminal investigations division in Seattle, would not confirm or deny whether an investigation is taking place, as is the agency's policy.
If the agency were to find falsified reports, the operator could face federal felony charges and up to a five-year prison sentence under provisions of the Clean Water Act, Smith said.
Atkinson, 28, has spent time in jail before. He was held for more than two years in state prisons for a residential burglary conviction, possession of stolen property and taking a motor vehicle without permission, according to Cedar Creek Correction Center spokeswoman Niki Harkness.
He was incarcerated at Cedar Creek near Littlerock from July 1991 through April 1993 before being transferred. He was released from the Bellingham Work Release center in September 1993.
He earned a $25,200 salary at Onalaska and was in charge of its water and wastewater plants. An assistant has since taken over Atkinson's responsibilities.
Atkinson reportedly learned the trade and earned his operator's license through prison education programs at Cedar Creek.
District Commissioner Chuck Wrzesinski agreed things have gone awry at the plant, and he holds Atkinson responsible.
Atkinson was "a little less than enthusiastic in getting (a recent breakdown) fixed," Wrzesinski said. "He didn't see it as such a big deal, even though all the rest of us did.
"We said, 'Hey, you gotta do it. If you screwed up, you screwed up. It's not the end of the world.'"
Wrzesinski, who became a commissioner after Atkinson was hired, said he had heard rumors of Atkinson's prior incarceration but did not hold it against the young man.
"I guess for me it didn't matter," he said. "I spent a career in corrections. A lot of people make mistakes and they ought to get a second chance to go around."
Authorities are reviewing what went wrong at the plant and why monthly reports submitted to the DOE continue to indicate everything is fine and nothing went wrong, Emmett said.
"I don't understand what he thinks he's gaining by not reporting what's going on," Emmett said, unaware the operator had resigned.
Emmett said Atkinson's reports continued to indicate plentiful oxygen to break down biological matter, although she said that did not appear to be the case.
She found maggots growing in material in the plant's chlorine contact chamber, where chlorine presumably should have been sanitizing the water and killing the bugs.
Commissioners have said the problems were caused by a temporary mechanical failure that has been repaired. A spinning fan aerates wastewater in a racetrack-like chamber as water enters the plant behind an Onalaska mill. The rotor on the aerator broke and had to repaired.
Wrzesinski said Atkinson was slow to repair the rotor. The repair took 11 days, he said, although much of this time involved parts sitting around waiting for pickup.
"He had an excuse for everything," Wrzesinski said. "Without anybody supervising him he didn't do the things he didn't like to do."
The district's longtime secretary, Roberta Weiher, has also resigned. Wrzesinski said Weiher's resignation was unrelated to recent troubles.
Atkinson did not return a call for comment.