Oliver to Depose City Officials for Decade of Toxic Dumping
Claims 'Elites' in 'Conspiracy'

Chattanooga's environmental whistleblower will finally have his day in court.

Or, at least he will be allowed to prepare for a day in court.

Since making allegations in 1991 against HydroVac Services for massive toxic dumping in Chattanooga -- which he claims has continued for a decade -- former lab director Ernest Oliver has been in and out of various state and local courts attempting to present his evidence. But each time his case has been dismissed and the evidence unheard.

In each of those cases, however, he was a plaintiff. Plaintiffs are not automatically allowed to conduct discovery. Now Oliver has found himself as a defendant against the City of Chattanooga and he says he will finally have the opportunity to depose the various officials he has accused of covering up the pollution of Summit landfill, Chattanooga Creek and the Tennessee River.

Oliver plans to depose such officials as Public Works Director Jack Marcellis, Moccasin Bend Treatment Plant Director Bunky Wright, Systems Engineer Alice Cannella, Attorney Rick Hitchcock, and several others.

The city recently filed suit against Oliver  for $1200 over a plumbing job where a sewer line was accidentally cut. Oliver, now a master plumber, claims public works officials conspired against him to cause him to lose the account. He also claims city elites caused him to lose his previous two jobs -- as the HydroVac lab director and as a chemistry instructor at Chattanooga State.

Due to his environmental whistleblowing against an illegal hazardous waste dumping operation in the Chattanooga area, Oliver has lost two scientific positions in Chattanooga and was forced to go into the plumbing business in 1994 in order to make a living,ä Oliver writes in his counterclaim petition filed with the court.

This elite group 'could not afford to have a whistleblower holding down a credible position of teaching chemistry and microbiology at Chattanooga State while at the same time proclaiming that a hazardous waste dumping operation was being protected in the so-called Environmental City'.

'There are over 100 companies in the Chattanooga area being allowed to give their wastes to HydroVac services,' writes Oliver, who alleges that such a broad network adds to 'a continuing conspiracy that has occurred over the past 10 years by members of an elite group of men and women in Chattanooga bent on allowing and protecting the illegal dumping of hazardous wastes.

Is it far fetched? As bizarre as the allegations may seem, Defendant/Counterclaimant can prove every allegation of this conspiracy' he writes, pointing to tape recorded conversations, photos, videos, documents, and court records as part of his mountain of evidence. 

The central figure in Oliverâs conspiracy theory is local attorney Rick Hitchcock of the Strang, Fletcher law firm who also serves as an adjunct city attorney. 

Hitchcock did not return Chattanooga Fax's call on the matter.

Hitchcock was one of the leading attorneys representing the 82 corporations named in Oliver's first toxic dumping lawsuit. Oliver claimed gasoline-contaminated soil from Golden Gallon had been mixed with other constituents at HydroVac, causing hazardous waste to be dumped in Chattanooga. Hitchcock pointed to an affidavit from a Tennessee regulator stating that all of Oliver's accusations were groundless. Federal Judge James Jarvis of Knoxville ordered Oliver to pay Hitchcock $500 for filing a frivolous lawsuit, but Oliver was later allowed to appeal when Federal Judge Thomas Hull of Greenville, TN wrote in a related case that Jarvis may have relied upon a false affidavit in dismissing the previous lawsuit. (Documents that Jarvis failed to allow in the 1992 case showed a 1991 report from the state regulator's office stating HydroVac Services was found in violation of the Tennessee Hazardous Waste Management Act.

Oliver appealed to the 6th Circuit and then the U.S. Supreme Court but was denied a hearing. However, his complaint with the Dept. of Labor led to  Secretary Robert Reich ordering HydroVac to pay Oliver $25,018 in back pay and concluding "Oliver's concern that the contaminates would run-off and pollute the nearby Tennessee River was reasonable..."
Oliver claims Hitchcock played a role in Chattanooga State President Jim Catanzaroâs decision not to rehire Oliver as a Chemistry instructor. Oliver says Hitchcock chaired the 'International Conference on Environmental Commerce hosted by Cantanzaro.

Upon being fired from Chattanooga State, Oliver claimed a conspiracy and sought a "letter to sue" from the Tennessee Department of Human Rights. Investigator Alice Ford ruled that Chattanooga State had discriminated against Oliver and ordered a 'Cause Recommendation' against the school. Ford was then ordered by superiors in Nashville not to grant the letter. She refused. A few days later the Chattanooga office was shut down. Ms. Ford filed her own lawsuit, claiming conspiracy against Oliver. Oliver then obtained his "letter to sue" from the federal EEOC. Ford has since been reinstated as supervisor of the entire Chattanooga Human Rights office.

Hitchcock and Oliver butted heads again during the water company takeover. Hitchcock chaired the public meeting held at the Tivoli where Mayor Kinsey and Joe Decosimo spoke on the merits of a takeover. Oliver was the first to speak from the audience and questioned the cityâs competence to run the water utility based on itâs track record with hazardous waste and cited a number of specific examples. His speech was followed by a long, thunderous applause.
Soon after, when the city went to court with the water company, Oliver joined them as a third party defendant. But Oliver was dismissed from the case after Hitchcock, representing the city, filed  Judge Jarvis's opinion calling Oliver's case 'groundless.

Now Oliver claims more conspiracy regarding the recent clash with the city over a broken sewer pipe. Oliver's client requested his house be connected to the sewer line, and Oliver says he received approval from the city to dig 12 feet deep into the street to connect to the 8 inch sewer pipe. However, another 4 inch pipe was hit just above, which spewed raw sewage into the hole. Oliver says the city is at fault for failing to inform him of the other pipe. 

When public works officials came to the scene, Oliver says Moccasin Bend Director Bunky Wright told them by cell phone not to allow Oliver to connect to the sewer line. The city then provided Oliver's client with the service free of charge, which Oliver claims is unprecedented and a deliberate attempt to steal revenue from his business. 

Oliver's client, who admits in writing that he met with Bunky Wright, then asked that Oliver return the $1200 advance money he paid to have the sewer line connected. The city then sued Oliver for another $1200 when Oliver refused to pay for the damaged pipe based on his claim that the city interfered with his contract.

Oliver trudges forward: "I hope the depositions and discovery I am now entitled to will help stop the pollution and add to the investigations already being conducted by the FBI, EPA, and Georgia Bureau of Investigation."
The HydroVac facility, owned by Bill Foxworth, was shut down two months ago.

Oliver says he has no idea if another Foxworth company or a competitor now handles the waste and says he does not know where the wastes are taken.