Beckley, W.Va.-A 43-year-old Beckley man has been sentenced by a federal judge to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $133,819.12 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for storing hazardous waste, including sulfuric acid and chromic acid, without a permit. Rodney Hoffman pled guilty in April, admitting to his involvement with chrome plating at Mills Plating shop. Hoffman cleaned out plating tanks and stored the waste materials onsite without a permit, knowing the waste was hazardous. The hazardous waste, stored in open containers and vats, was abandoned at the shop when the plating operation was moved. According to court documents, the waste materials were illegally stored from October 2006 until February 2007, when they were discovered by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Subsequently, EPA expended over $133,000 conducting a cleanup of the site. Evidence presented at sentencing revealed that Hoffman was previously convicted for violating the Clean Water Act.
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