GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — A federal judge sentenced two Grand Haven industrial executives to serve jail time and pay thousands of dollars in fines for violating the Clean Water Act.
Gary Stephen Rowe, 70, and Stephen Frederick Rowe, 30, of ASP Plating Company were ordered to pay more than $50,000 in penalties. Gary Rowe, president of the company, was ordered to serve a three-month jail sentence, while Stephen Rowe was sentenced to 14 days in jail.
ASP Plating Company, which coats parts in zinc using electroplating, routinely violated its sewer authority permit by discharging zinc in excess of the daily and monthly limitations, by releasing zinc in batches without notice, and by bypassing the mandatory pretreatment system entirely.
Electroplating is an electrochemical process of coating objects with metal.
The Sewer Authority periodically monitored the company’s discharges, but Gary and Stephen Rowe instructed employees to make sure the monitor was absent before discharging wastewater containing excessive amounts of zinc, federal authorities said.
“The success of the Clean Water Act depends in part on industrial permit holders diligently complying with the law to ensure public health and safety measures are upheld,” U.S. Mark Attorney Totten said.
“If you can’t afford to follow environmental laws, you shouldn’t be in business. And if you commit environmental crimes in this district, all sentencing options are on the table, including jail time and substantial fines.”
The EPA and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources-Environmental Investigation Section conducted the investigation.
“The Defendants negatively impacted the public waste treatment program work by illegally causing improperly treated waste to enter the Grand Haven-Spring Lake Sewer Authority municipal sewer system,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard Conrad of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division (“EPA-CID”).
“Those companies who knowingly violate environmental laws will be held accountable for their actions.”
Here is the breakdown of their sentences:
- Gary Rowe, president of the company, pleaded guilty to a felony violation. The Honorable Paul L. Maloney, United States District Judge, sentenced Gary Rowe to three months and one day in custody, to be followed by nine months of location monitoring as a part of a one-year term of supervised release. Rowe was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine, $13,500 due to the Grand Haven-Spring Lake Sewer Authority under an administrative consent order, $4,212.54 in restitution to the City of Grand Haven and a $100 special assessment.
- ASP Plating Company pleaded guilty to a felony violation. Judge Maloney sentenced the company, which filed for bankruptcy in October 2022, to three years of probation, a $5,000 fine, a $400 special assessment, and the restitution amounts Gary Rowe was ordered to pay.
- Stephen Rowe, vice president of the company pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation. The Honorable Sally J. Berens, United States Magistrate Judge, sentenced Rowe to 14 days in jail, one year of supervised release, a $10,000 fine, $4,212.54 in restitution, and a $25 special assessment. The restitution obligations are joint and several.
You can read the plea agreement here:
The Clean Water Act governs the pollution of our nation's waters. It also regulates industrial and municipal discharges.
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