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February 17, 2010
MAN INDICTED FOR IMPROPER ASBESTOS HANDLING
DENVER – James Robert Soyars, Jr., age 45, was arrested without incident this morning in Houston, Texas following an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Denver on February 10, 2010 charging him with violating the Clean Air Act – violations of work practice standards relating to the proper disposal of asbestos-containing materials. Soyars is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas in Houston for an initial appearance, where he will be advised of the charges pending against him.
According to the indictment, James Soyars owned and operated Talon Environmental, Inc. Between September 9, 2005 and August 28, 2006, Soyars allegedly knowingly violated work practice standards by failing to comply with the requirement to deposit asbestos-containing waste material as soon as was practical at a regulated waste disposal or conversion site. The indictment alleges that Soyars stored and directed Talon Environmental, Inc. employees to store asbestos-containing waste material at a Public Storage location at 5500 West Hampden, in Denver, Colorado. Public Storage was not a regulated waste disposal or conversion site authorized to receive asbestos-containing waste material. Soyars is also charged with not properly labeling the bags containing the asbestos-containing materials and failing to mark the vehicles used to transport the asbestos-containing material to the Public Storage location with warning signs. Talon Environmental was an abatement company that had been hired to remove the asbestos-containing materials which are the subject of this case from buildings which were being renovated in Greeley, Colorado Springs, and Aurora.
If convicted of violations of the work practice standard requiring timely deposits of asbestos-containing waste material at an unauthorized disposal facility, Soyars faces not more than 5 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine for each of the three counts.
If convicted of violations of the work practice standard requiring labeling of containers of asbestos-containing waste material, Soyars faces not more than 5 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine, for each of the three counts.
If convicted of violations of the work practice standard requiring marking vehicles used to transport asbestos-containing waste material with warning signs, Soyars faces up to 5 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine for each of three counts.
This case was investigated by the Environmental Protect Agency (EPA).
Soyars is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Kaufman.
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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