United States v. Domermuth Environmental Services, LLC, et al.

On August 20, 2024, Domermuth Environmental Services, LLC, (DES) and Christopher Domermuth pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act for knowingly discharging pollutants into a water of the United States without a permit (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311, 1319(c)(2)(A)). Sentencing is scheduled for December 12, 2024.

On July 26, 2018, a pole camera installed on property adjacent to the DES facility filmed workers rolling over a previously exhumed underground storage tank, which spilled a mixture of petroleum and water onto a concrete pad at the facility. The workers, including Christopher Domermuth, threw absorbent pads into the spilled mixture and then used a portable pump to pump the oily mixture over a retaining wall at DES. The oily mixture flowed over a neighboring property and into a culvert leading to the Holston River, a tributary of the Tennessee River. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, the EPA Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Valley Authority Office of Inspector General, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation conducted the investigation.