United States Attorney Nicholas A.

Klinefeldt
Southern District of Iowa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mike Bladel

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 (515) 473-9342
http://www.justice.gov/usao/ias/ Mike.Bladel@usdoj.gov

OTTUMWA BUSINESS MAN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL STORAGE OF

HAZARDOUS WASTE

Clean-up costs exceed $500,000

Ottumwa, Iowa – On April 29, 2010, Bernard Eugene Fuhs appeared before United

States District Court Judge James E. Gritzner and was sentenced on his plea of guilty to storage

of hazardous waste without a permit. The Court sentenced Fuhs to time served (1 day), followed

by 3 years Supervised Release including a special condition of 10 months of home confinement.

The Court also ordered Fuhs to pay restitution in the amount of $522,622.94 for the clean-up of

the site.

In 2003 and 2004, Fuhs operated Rainbow Services, a drum and container reconditioning

business that refurbished plastic and steel barrels located at 404 North Forrest Avenue, Ottumwa,

Iowa. The business used, among other things, acids to wash the barrels. This process generated

thousands of gallons of hazardous waste, which Fuhs did not have a permit to store. The

hazardous waste had the substantial potential to be harmful to human health and the

environment. Fuhs had this hazardous waste placed on a neighboring business’ property, which

caused the owners to incurred clean-up costs of $522,622.94.

This case was investigated by The United States Environmental Protection Agency-

Criminal Investigation Division (EPA-CID), EPA Region 7, and the Iowa Department of Natural

Resources (IDNR).

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