Crippen Clean-Up Completed

The clean up is finished at the Archie Crippen Excavation site in southwest Fresno, Calf., where a large pile of C&D debris caught fire in January of this year and threatened the health of residents in the area.

The Fresno Bee has reported that more than 100,000 tons of debris, most of it burned in the fire that lasted a month, has been hauled to a landfill in southwestern Kings County. It took 4,111 truckloads to haul away the material, which had was piled three stories high and covered five acres.

When the hauling was complete, according to the Bee, Michelle Rogow, on-scene coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, gave Crippen control of the property again, saying, “Archie, we’re glad to have your site back to you. You won’t be looking at us anymore every day.”

The multimillion-dollar clean up was paid for with public funds, and Crippen has pleaded poverty as to why he cannot contribute to the clean up. That hasn’t stopped the U.S. EPA, the California Integrated Waste Management Board, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and the city of Fresno from filing claims totaling several million dollars against Crippen, who did not have a permit to stock or recycle mixed C&D at his site. The permit he did possess was reportedly for concrete and asphalt recycling and to run a public truck scale.

Crippen has blamed the city for the fire and has filed suit against the city for the alleged slow response of the fire department. He has also reportedly sued the city for defamation for comments made by city officials calling the Crippen site an “illegal dump.”