September 30, 1999
Knoxsville News-SentinelFederal Agents Raid Offices of N-waste Recycler
FBI, others keep quiet about probe
By Scott Barker
Federal agents descended on the offices of an Oak Ridge radioactive materials recycling company Wednesday in a search of documents relating to hazardous materials.
News-Sentinel staff-writerOfficials of US Ecology, a company that processes low-level radioactive wastes and refurbishes components, confirmed that federal agents spent the day looking for documentation of hazardous materials listed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
"They are investigating the possible presence of RCRA-related) material," said Bruce Weible, a spokesman for US Ecology.
Weible said the company was complying with the nvestigation, but he did not reveal which agencies were involved in the raid.
Local federal officials were equally tightlipped about the investigation.
FBI Special Agent Scott Nowinski said he could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation or the execution of a search warrant.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Russ Dedrick also said he could not comment.
Mike Mobley, director of radiological health for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said he was left out of the loop. Mobley, whose office issues licenses for facilities that process or handle nuclear materials in the state, said an individual on the scene called him about the raid while it was in progress.
Weible said he didn't know if Wednesday's search was related to the case of Thomas Bengel, a former US Ecology manager who pleaded guilty in February to one count of illegally dumping hazardous waste.
In June U.S. District Judge James Jarvis sentenced Bengel to five years of probation and 300 hours of community service for disposing of a substantial portion of a 30-gallon drum of the carcinogen 111 trichloroethane beside a Knox County road on Oct. 9, 1998.
Jarvis also ordered Bengel to pay the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for the cleanup, which cost more than $12,000.
During Bengel's sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Guy Blackwell said Bengel gave the FBI information about US Ecology that resulted in a second investigation. Jarvis sealed Bengel's interviews with the FBI.