St. Louis Scrap Company Sued by State

The state of Missouri’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit in the St. Louis Circuit Court last week against a St. Louis scrap yard and its owners over storage of used motor oil.

Goldstein Truck Parts & Sales Redevelopment Corp., National Recycling, Goldstein Truck Parts & Sales Inc., as well as principals of the companies – Laurence Goldstein and Samuel Goldstein, have been cited for a host of violations by the state.

According to Kara Valentine, the state’s attorney working on the case the company has so far failed to correspond with earlier warnings and letters sent by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The letter accuses the company and the owners of a number of environmental violations caused by improper storage and dumping of used motor oil.

Jeremy Nixon, attorney general for the state of Missouri, said inspectors with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources found unlabeled open drums of used oil, large areas of soil contaminated by oil, and a pool of oil and water four feet deep in the basement of an abandoned building.

According to a press report in a local newspaper, Laurence Goldstein said hazardous materials are never left intentionally in the salvage yard. He said oil sometimes leaks out of motors, and keeping a salvage yard completely free of it is virtually impossible.

"We're not talking about anything that is unusual," he said.

The lawsuit specifically alleges failure to clean up spills of used oil; failure to determine if waste is hazardous; failure to label containers of used oil; and allowing open containers of used oil to be stored outside, exposed to rain.

Nixon said the companies have made minimal efforts to correct problems cited by the DNR. "Perhaps a court order will get their attention," he said.

In the lawsuit, Nixon asked the St. Louis Circuit Court to issue injunctions against the Goldsteins to prevent further violations of the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law. The suit also seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day per violation of the law.

The problems began three years ago when the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District and the city of St. Louis Building inspector found violations. These findings were reported to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Following that initial complaint, the MDNR inspected adjacent properties and found a number of violations of the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law and regulations.

According to the lawsuit, between October 1998 and January 2000 the MDNR sent the defendants “at least five notices explaining the violations and the means necessary for compliance with the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law.”

However, the defendant failed to adequately respond or address the violations contained within the notice of violation.

To remedy the situation, the MDNR is asking the court to:

Issue an order finding that all violations alleged in the petition have occurred;

Find defendants failed to comply with the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law and regulations regarding the generation, handling and storage of used oil;

Issue a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining defendants from any further violations of the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law and regulation;

Require the company to propose a plan and schedule for cleaning up the contaminated site;

Assess a penalty for the defendants;

Order defendants to comply with the corrective action;

Issue an injunction preventing the defendants from causing any further damage;

Assess against the defendants all costs of the proceedings; and

Order such other and further relief as the court deems fair.

An attorney for the defendants did not return calls for comment.