Oliver Surpised by City Official's Recent Toxic Bust
Believes Sudden Action May Be Attempt to Cover Pending Arrest

May 29, 2001

Environmental whistleblower Ernest Oliver says he's surprised to see sudden action taken by public works officials to crack down on toxic dumping by five local companies. He says a pending incarceration of Hydro-Vac's Bill Foxworth may be the reason.

"They're using this as a smokescreen to offset the fact that Foxworth is about to be charged with environmental crimes," said Oliver.

Sources apart from Oliver say Foxworth has retained a criminal attorney and is negotiating with the FBI and United States Attorney's office regarding an indictment and a possible plea bargain. Oliver has legally pursued Foxworth for ten years to expose illegal toxic dumping by his wastewater pretreatment facility near the Tennessee River behind Broad Street.

The local U.S. Attorney's office said the Foxworth case is being handled by U.S Attorney Guy Blackwell in Greenville, Tennessee. Calls to Blackwell were not immediately returned.

In Sunday's paper, Mocassin Bend Pretreatment Coordinator Rick Tate named five local companies that were dumping hazardous substances into the sewer system. Tate has monitored Hydro-Vac for several years.

"I haven't seen an article like this in ten years," said Oliver.
Bob Barnes, plant manager for Signal Plating, one of the companies named, agrees. "This is the only time I've seen an article like that, he said. "The only other article I've seen was one about Hydro-Vac in the Chattanooga Fax."

Rick Tate did not return calls to Chattanooga Fax.

HydroVac collected crank case oil and used petroleums, waste oil and grease from fast food restaurants, dry cleaning fluids, latex pollutants from carpet mills and many other wastes. Oliver, who was fired as Hydro-Vac's lab director in 1989, has charged in multiple lawsuits that Hydro-Vac illegally accepted toxic waste, dumped pollutants directly into the Chattanooga Creek and Tennessee River, and disposed highly poisonous solids into the city landfill.

Oliver lost his lawsuit based on an affidavit from the Department of Energy and Conservation stating his accusations were groundless. (However, other documents show the DEC had in fact cited Hydro-Vac for dumping hazardous wastes.) Oliver appealed his 1990 firing all the way to Washington D.C. and was exonerated by Department of Labor Secretary Robert Reich who ordered Foxworth to pay Oliver over $40,000. The order also agreed with Oliver's accusation that HydroVac was dumping hazardous wastes into the Tennessee River.

Oliver accuses Tate of knowingly allowing Hydro-Vac to operate despite being rejected by the city's systems design engineer in 1989. Former city engineer George Kurz, who now works in Nashville, in a memo to Chattanooga Fax admonished the public works department for allowing "an obvious, pathetic attempt to cover up by HydroVac."

Oliver says an Associated Press story this week corroborates his charges that the EPA is not properly monitoring toxic dumping in Tennessee. The Tennessee Environmental Council sued and gained a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal court. "EPA failed to force Tennessee's Department of Environment and Conservation to develop and enforce a water quality restoration program," the AP reported.

"This proves that the Department of Environment and Conservation in Chattanooga has been protecting illegal dumping in Chattanooga for years," said Oliver.