A former employee of Mount Rainier National Park pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act after he dumped raw sewage from a park facility into a ditch. The sewage ended up in the Nisqually River.
credit:
Katie Campbell
TACOMA, Wash. — A Mount Rainier employee has pleaded guilty to dumping sewage in the Nisqually River and has resigned his position in the national park.
The News Tribune reports the treatment plant operator was accused of directing 200,000 gallons of sewage into the Nisqually River after he failed in August 2011 to stop a buildup of sewage at the plant that serves the Paradise Inn and nearby visitor’s center.
Instead of fixing the problem, 52-year-old James Barber bypassed the normal treatment process and discharged the waste into a drainage ditch that flows into the river.
As part of the plea deal, Barber resigned from the Park Service and has agreed not to enter the park for five years.
Federal prosecutors had charged him with violating the Clean Water Act, a misdemeanor.
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