DATE: Wednesday, September 24, 1997         TAG: 9709240464

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   64 lines

BEACH BUSINESS PROSECUTED FOR DISCHARGING CFCS

A Virginia Beach salvage yard Tuesday became the first business of its kind in the nation to be prosecuted for illegally discharging chemicals linked to holes in the ozone layer, federal officials said.

Known as CFCs - short for chlorofluorocarbons - the refrigerants were barred for use in most air conditioners made after 1993. Scientists linked emissions from units in cars, trucks, homes and businesses with a withering of the stratospheric ozone layer, which shields Earth from ultraviolet radiation.

A federal judge Tuesday fined Oceana Salvage Inc. $24,000 and sentenced its vice president, Gary L. Malbon of Virginia Beach, to six months of home detention for crushing thousands of vehicles for scrap without first removing their CFC-laden freon. Malbon, in charge of auto salvage at the yard, had pleaded guilty to the felony this summer.

The yard, in the 1000 block of Oceana Blvd. in Virginia Beach, had purchased a special machine for collecting and recycling freon, as required by federal rules. But employees used it only a few times between 1993 and 1996, said John Smeltzer, a Justice Department lawyer who prosecuted the case.

``I know what I did was wrong,'' said Malbon, 38, as members of his family wept in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. ``I take responsibility for it; I just didn't realize how serious it was.''

It was the first successful prosecution of a junkyard or salvage business caught releasing CFCs in violation of 1993 ozone-protection rules, Smeltzer said. A case involving illegal releases from a Florida housing unit is under appeal, and an auto repair shop in Missouri was found guilty of not obtaining government certification to handle such chemicals.

Smeltzer said the amount of CFCs released into the air from Oceana Salvage was ``a drop in the ocean'' compared with how much of the material remains in use today.

But, he stressed, it was important for Judge Robert G. Doumar to ``send a message'' to junkyard owners, mechanics and others who are required to safely dispose of freon, by imposing a stiff penalty against Malbon and his business.

Doumar responded by chastising the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for not better informing such industry representatives of the severe consequences for breaking federal rules governing CFCs.

``I certainly wasn't aware of the criminal sanctions until I saw this case,'' Doumar said, noting that Malbon is now a convicted felon who cannot vote or obtain a gun permit. ``This is serious business, and I'm not sure the public has been made aware of this.''

Doumar sentenced Malbon to the minimum penalty under federal guidelines - he faced a maximum of 12 months in prison and a $25,000 fine - and then added one unique twist.

The judge required Malbon to speak to industry groups about CFCs, their regulation and his experience at least 12 times over the next three years.

His lawyer, Hunter W. Sims Jr., said afterward that the yard accepts many old, wrecked cars, most of which don't have air conditioners. He said the recycling machine ``just didn't get used all the time'' because of the time and effort it takes to operate one.

The machine sucks out old CFC-laden freon and stores it in a small container. The material can then be pumped back into a car or disposed of by mixing it with other chemicals, federal officials said. Oceana Salvage did neither, they said.

``They just weren't as sensitive to the seriousness of the matter as they should have been,'' Sims said.

The case was investigated by the Tidewater Environmental Crimes Task Force, a mix of local, state and federal regulators. Investigators got wind of a problem at the yard through a tip, Smeltzer said.

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