Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 11/15/06

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Donna Edwards - 565-3099 Media Spokesperson, Assistant District Attorney Christine Cook Deputy District Attorney: Jeffrey W. Holtzman

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

Owner of Wright Contracting, Inc. Enters Plea in Water Pollution Case;
Company to Pay $225,000 in Related Civil Action

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced today that the owner of a Santa Rosa contracting company, Michael Wright, entered a no contest plea to a misdemeanor water pollution charge in Sonoma County Superior Court. The plea concerned the company’s failure to obtain a permit before releasing approximately 1.5 million gallons of groundwater last fall into a Santa Rosa storm drain and public sewer. Judge Andrew Wick sentenced Mr. Wright to one year probation, a $1,000 fine and a suspended 14 day jail term. In a related case, Wright Contracting, Inc., agreed to pay $225,000 in fines, costs and restitution to settle a civil action and potential administrative actions by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the City of Santa Rosa. District Attorney Passalacqua stated, "The public expects and deserves to be protected from unauthorized discharges into our waterways."

The unpermitted discharge occurred over a two-week period commencing October 14, 2005, at the construction site for Santa Rosa Junior College’s new parking structure. Low levels of the dry cleaning solvent PCE (tetrachloroethylene) and the gasoline additive MTBE (methyl-tert-butyl ether) were found in samples taken at the project site. Precisely how much discharged water actually contained these chemicals remains unknown.

Officials at Wright Contracting, Inc. maintain that they believed they had the proper permit and continued the water discharge out of a concern that disrupting it would undermine the integrity of the roadbed on nearby Mendocino Ave. In the civil case, Wright Contracting, Inc., without admitting guilt, agreed to pay $225,000, which payment will be allocated as follows: $25,000 in civil penalties imposed under the Fish and Game Code; $25,000 in civil penalties imposed under the Water Code; $75,000 in restitution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; $25,000.00 restitution to the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account on behalf of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board; $25,000 restitution to the City of Santa Rosa; $25,000 restitution to the Western States Project for environmental training, and; $25,000 costs to the District Attorney.

Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey W. Holtzman was the assigned prosecutor on this case. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, through its inspector Joan Fleck, initially discovered the release and ordered its halt. Santa Rosa waste water inspector Donna Seaman later discovered the contaminants’ presence. The case was then investigated and referred to the District Attorney by the Santa Rosa Police Department Detective Mark Mahre.