PIKESVILLE MAN CONVICTED OF HAZARDOUS WASTE TRANSPORTATION VIOLATION

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran announced today that Mark Langrehr of Church Lane in Pikesville, Maryland was convicted of transporting hazardous waste without a hauler’s certificate. Langrehr pled guilty to moving four drums of flammable organic peroxide from a rental property he owns on Old Millford Mill Road to a dumpster at 1221 Greenwood Road in Baltimore County. “The state has these laws in place because transporting chemicals is extremely dangerous, and must be done by a professional to insure safety for all of us,” said Attorney General Curran.

Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge John Grason Turnbull II ordered Langrehr to pay a $20,000 fine ($10,000 of that was then suspended), perform 50 hours of community service, and be placed on one year of supervised probation.

The case arose after a tenant of the Old Millford Mill Road address called the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Emergency Response Division to report the drums sitting beside the house in the driveway. The emergency responders went to the scene and marked and photographed the drums. They also advised Mr. Langrehr’s son that the property owner needed to hire a certified hazardous waste hauler to dispose of the drums at an approved facility. According to the record, on February 8, 2006 the same marked drums were discovered next to a dumpster at 1221 Greenwood Road. Investigation led representatives of the Environmental Crimes Unit to Mark Langrehr who acknowledged that he had personally transported the drums in a friend’s pick-up truck and unloaded them next to the dumpster.  Samples taken from the drums confirmed that their content was flammable as the labels indicated. Langrehr was not certified to transport the material, and the dumpster behind 1221 Greenwood Road is not a licensed disposal facility. The drums were ultimately transported to a licensed disposal facility by a certified hauler.

The case was investigated by the Environmental Crimes Unit of the Office of the Attorney General with assistance from the Maryland State Police, and the Emergency Response Division of the Maryland Department of the Environment.