Salvage company pleads guilty to violating Clean Air Act

The U.S. Department of Justice has reported that Mark Sawyer, the owner and operator of A&E Salvage Inc., based in Tennessee, has pled guilty in federal court in Greeneville, Tennessee, for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act.

Mark Sawyer, the owner and operator, pleaded guilty to one criminal felony count for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act’s “work practice standards” salient to the proper wetting, stripping, bagging and disposal of asbestos. According to the charges, Sawyer, along with other co-conspirators, engaged in a multiyear scheme in which substantial amounts of regulated asbestos containing materials were improperly removed from components of the former Liberty Fibers Plant in Tennessee or were illegally left in place during demolition.

Sawyer faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss to the victims. Sawyer is the last of five charged co-defendants to plead guilty. 

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division.