My local print and TV media has been so utterly consumed by looking at the Yale murder case from every possible angle, that it's a wonder I even saw this headline last week:

U.S. Indicts Cheshire Man, His Environmental Business and an Employee

This isn't the kind of publicity any environmental firm wants. Last week, the owner of Earth Technology, a local environmental firm here in Connecticut that does site development and remediation work, was charged in a 19-point federal indictment. He, along with one of his employees, are also facing charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Seems they allegedly attempted to defraud the developer of a NY shopping mall by submitting inflated invoices for the removal of contaminated soil. According to the indictment:

• The company was hired by a general contractor in 2004 to provide site preparation and soil excavation services at the site of a NY shopping mall.
• During the course of the contract, soil at the site was reportedly found to contain toxic levels of lead.
• Earth Technology was contracted to remove the soil to a NJ disposal site for $127.50/ton.
• The client was insured for any unanticipated costs of contaminated soil disposal.
• The company reportedly used another soil disposal firm (which they had set up and financed) as a "sham broker" in the soil removal process.
• The subcontractor billed Earth Technology $218/ton for soil removal, costs that were passed onto the developer (and his insurance carrier) PLUS a 15% fee. 
• Ultimately, the cost of overbilling could reach as high as $300,000.

This wasn't the company's first brush with the law, either. In 2005, our state Attorney General referred to Earth Technology as "Exhibit A" for the need to reform the way Connecticut awards contracts to private companies. Why? Because at the time they'd received more than $1 million in business from the state DEP at a time when they also did $75,000 in free or discounted work at the homes of two environmental agency employees.

Now, due to the recent charges, Earth Technology might have to kiss any state business goodbye. Connecticut's Attorney General Blumenthal was recently quoted as saying, "The state must consider closely and promptly whether this company should be receiving state business; indeed, whether it can be a state contractor."

But, losing state contracts isn't their biggest worry right now. The penalty for their $300k soil contamination disposal scheme? Maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison for the owner and an employee. And the firm faces a fine of up to $9.5 million if convicted.

The company's website boasts that the company was listed in Engineering News Record's list of Top 200 environmental firms, although it doesn't appear in the 2009 list. It also claims to be currently ranked in the top three environmental firms in Connecticut in the Business New Haven "Environmental Remediation and Consulting Firms" issue. If these charges from the alleged scheme to defraud the mall developer are proven, there could soon be one fewer soil removal contractor in this state.