Tulip Corp., a California-based company with a facility in Niagara Falls that was convicted of storing hazardous waste without a permit, was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $100,000 by U.S. District Chief Judge William Skretny. In addition to the criminal fine, the company also made a $25,000 contribution to Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper.

One of the product lines at Tulip involved reprocessing and recycling of shredded battery casings - commonly referred to as "chips" - into a usable material. Tulip purchased the chips from various suppliers and reprocessed them at its Niagara Falls facility by washing, drying and extruding them. Some of the chips processed and recycled by Tulip were contaminated with lead and therefore were hazardous materials. On July 11, 2007, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation conducted an inspection at Tulip and observed approximately 80,000 puonds of chips being stored outside. Samples of those chips were taken by the DEC and determined to contain lead levels that were above the regulatory threshold.

"The Tulip Corporation endangered the environment by disregarding the law when it wrongly accumulated and stored the hazardous waste in this case," said U.S. Attorney William Hochul Jr. "Corporations which place their own profit before the law will be brought to justice."

"By illegally storing hazardous wastes, the Tulip Corporation put the public at potential risk," said William Lometti, special agent in charge of the EPA's New York Area Office of Criminal Enforcement. "Today's sentence should send a strong message that we will vigorously prosecute those who intentionally violate environmental laws and disregard the public's well-being."