Post #37078 by RevBambooBen on Tue, Jun 3, 2003 8:39 AM

Tons of Booze Dumped on Farm

June 1, 2003 11:19 PM EDT

MEYERSDALE, Pa. - State environmental officials are considering levying fines and other penalties against whoever dumped more than 145,000 cases of stagnant rum at a western Pennsylvania farm.

Thousands of cases of discontinued Captain Morgan Gold was found piled on a farm in Elk Lick Township, about 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh near the Maryland border.

"This was a significant mess," Stan Whitsel, a state Department of Environmental Protection supervisor, told The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown in Sunday's editions. "It was a bad situation just waiting to get worse."

State environmental officials discovered the 2,000 tons of abandoned booze and packing material in May. Whitsel declined to say how they found out about the dumped rum.

Environmental officials began routinely inspecting the farm after thousands of telephone poles and railroad ties were found dumped there last summer.

According to Whitsel, the liquor was discontinued in August by London-based Diageo, which hired Houston-based shipping company Satellite Logistics to dispose of some of the 4 million cases of the rum left over.

Somerset-based Iser Resources and Procurement then convinced Satellite Logistics it had a permit to dispose of the rum, which was made at a plant in Allentown, Whitsel said. It has no such permit, he said.

Whitsel said Diageo likely will not face sanctions because it contracted out the disposal.

Officials with Satellite Logistics did not return a phone call for comment on Sunday to The Associated Press. Marc Valentine, president of Iser Resources, had a disconnected number and could not be reached for comment.

After discovering the illegal dumping, state environmental officials said Satellite Logistics quickly cleaned up the mess. The alcohol was taken to landfills within a week, Whitsel said.

I bet the seagulls were happy!!

[ Edited by: revbambooben on 2003-06-03 08:42 ]