Carroll County Man Convicted of Illegal Transportation of Hazardous Waste

BALTIMORE, MD (May 24, 2007) - Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Christopher Maciejewski, 33, of Barley Drive in Marriotsville, was convicted of hauling hazardous waste from Tysons Corner Mall in McLean, Virginia to a waste storage lot on Grimm Road in Severn, Maryland. Maciejewski pled guilty to unlawfully transporting ignitable waste without having the required hazardous waste hauler’s certificate. Anne Arundel Circuit Court Judge Ronald Silkworth suspended a one year jail sentence, and ordered Maciejewski to pay a $10,000 fine and perform 20 hours of community service over a one year period of supervised probation.

The incident was first discovered when Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees working in Severn observed a truck filled with what appeared to be flammable paint waste being unloaded at a storage yard at 1450 Grimm Road in Severn. The property was leased by Bay Associates Environmental, Inc. After the EPA contacted the Maryland Environmental Crimes Unit, investigators went to the site and discovered 13 drums containing flammable paint waste. Maciejewski and a former hazardous materials chemist at Bay Associates took full responsibility for the drums.

Over the last several years, the maintenance department at Tysons Corner Mall had accumulated a variety of outdated commercial chemical products such as paints, cleaners and solvents. When the mall was sold, the new owner wanted the old chemicals removed from the premises. The mall’s environmental consultant contacted several companies to handle the removal and disposal of the chemicals. Ultimately, Bay Associates was selected based on Maciejewski’s representations that the company could perform the work. In fact, neither Maciejewski nor Bay Associates was authorized to transport hazardous material, and the Grimm Road yard was not a permitted hazardous waste storage facility. After the material was discovered, the Maryland Department of the Environment filed an enforcement action against Bay Associates and required that all the material be legally removed and disposed of properly.

This case was prosecuted following a joint investigation conducted by the Environmental Crimes Unit of the Office of the Attorney General, the Maryland Department of the Environment Hazardous Waste Program, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland State Police. In making today’s announcement, Attorney General Gansler thanked Assistant Attorney General Bernard Penner for his work on the case.