Investigations

On February 15, USA Remediation Services, Inc. (URSI), Warrenton, VA, was ordered . to pay $501,600 in fines and special assessments by a U.S. District Court judge in Buffalo, NY following the firm's October 2005 "no contest" plea to a felony charge of violating the Clean Air Act and conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. As part of a $4.3 million demolition contract awarded by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (an FAA grantee), URSI was awarded a $981,000 subcontract in 1999 for removal of asbestos at an industrial facility adjacent to the Buffalo-Niagara Airport; Comprehensive Employment Management, Inc. (CEM), Buffalo, NY. CEM was also awarded a subcontract for monitoring URSI's asbestos removal work. In September 2002, URSI, Corey Seamon, (a URSI employee), Mark Jamieson and Robert Birmingham, (two URSI supervisors), CEM, and John Toner, (a CEM employee), were all indicted on numerous charges related to illegal removal of asbestos fiom pipes in the building. Birmingham and Jamieson pled guilty and received jail terms. Seamon pled guilty in October 2005 and is scheduled for re-sentencing on March 3, 2006. CEM and Toner are expected to go to trial in May 2006. This investigation was conducted jointly with the EPA-CID, FBI, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Note: As in any criminal case, a person is presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty. The charges filed merely contain allegations of criminal conduct.