Criminal Charges In Lead Paint Case?

News Five has learned the contractor could be facing criminal fines.
Work crews are finished with the cleanup outside the building and now have moved inside the school. The price tag, an estimated 800 thousand dollars.

School Superintendent Faron Hollinger says the contractor, Melvin Pierce Painting our of Semmes, is responsible for the contamination and should have to pay for the clean up. A report by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management seems to back him up. “ADEM report is back and I think it speaks for itself our attorneys have taken appropriate action to see that we recoup some or all of that cost.”

According to the ADEM report, “…a person who generates a solid waste must determine if that waste is hazardous…” In this case, paint sandblasted from from 40 year old awnings outside the school was the source of the lead contamination.

The report goes on to say, “…M-P-P violated the Alabama Hazardous Waste Management and Minimization Act…and failed to adequately determine if waste mixture generated from sandblasting activity was hazardous waste.” Paint was left on school grounds which according to ADEM, “…constituted disposal of the waste on school grounds by M-P-P who did not have a hazardous waste permit.”

Criminal Charges In Lead Paint Case?