United States v. Weitzenhoff

Facts

Weitzenhoff (D) and Mariani (D1) were the managers of a sewage treatment plant in Honolulu. In April 1988, excess was generated and instead of having it hauled away, D's instructed employees to dispose of it by pumping it from the storage tanks directly into the outfall that was emptied into the ocean. The process selected by Ds avoided the installed sampling apparatus installed under the NPDES so that the government could monitor the actual waste going into the ocean. The government showed that such an event occurred on more than 40 separate occasions resulting in 436,000 pounds of pollutant solids being discharged into the ocean and that these discharges violated the 30-day average effluent limit under the permit from the NPDES. DOH inspectors finally got notice of the illegal dumping when they began to receive complaints from lifeguards regarding the emission of sewage and D1 issued false reports regarding the origin of that sewage and that the sampling records would substantiate their positions. D and D1 were eventually indicted and admitted to the discharges but claimed that their actions were justified under their NPDES permit. One of the employees who dumped the waste testified that D instructed him to keep quiet and that if they all stuck to the same story, there would be no way that anyone would get in any kind of trouble. The indictment was for 31 counts of violating the Clean Water Act. The CWA made it a felony offense to knowingly violate any permit, condition or limitation. During trial, the court construed the meaning of the word knowingly meaning that Ds were aware that they were discharging pollutants and not that they knew they were violating the terms of the statute or permit. Ds admitted to authorizing the dumping but claimed that they were justified under their interpretation of the plant’s permit. D and D1 were convicted and appealed. 

Issues

Rule of Law

Holding and Decision

Legal Analysis

© 2007-2024 ABN Study Partner.