[Ben Ficklin]

If you will read back thru the replys you see where I stated something to the effect that lets give him credit and say that he didn't burn or dump.

And if you think about, why would anyone dump or burn hexane. All you really have to do is let it evaporate, which it does quickly. It is being done by countless others thru-out the county and the country with solvents less volitile than hexane.

The case against McNabb will turn on the records. How much came in thru the front door as material and how much went out the back door as waste.

It is not likely that he will be charged criminally. Any civil fines he may have to pay will be on top of the fines that he has imposed on himself

[steve in DC]

I don't believe that the EPA can accurately extrapolate how much waste they should have had by calculating the amount purchased and subtracting the amount lost in processing. As you said, the stuff just disappears. And any calculation involving the waste McNabb says he had on hand presumes that his records are correct and accurate! The Agency will have to try hard to construct a case based on what actually happened to waste that they can prove he actually generated.

This case will be precisely what McNabb has always said it was. A potential case of some paperwork errors. But the Agency is claiming significant environmental impact. There is no environmental impact if someone simply fouls up some peperwork.

I anticipate the EPA will ultimately apply the tried and true formula that they have found so successful in the past: Figure out how much of a fine it would take to get the man to go out of business and fine him one dollar less.

Truly, the EPA meets the classic definition of a corrupt enterprise under the RICO statutes.

By the way, how does one impose a fine one oneself, and to whom is said fine paid? I don't understand.