Ms. Xiangyu Chu, Region 10 RCRA compliance officer for the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) regulations, contacted Mike Slater, USEPA/R10/OOO, in Portland OR by phone on September 16th and asked for assistance with the MIC Recycling case. Ms. Chu, works in the Air and RCRA Compliance Unit managed by Jeff Kenknight. She told Slater that in order to protect potential evidence gathered during the RCRA compliance inspection conducted in August 2009, a lock and custody seals needed to be placed on the shipping container located at the MIC Electonics Recycling facility located at 1280 SW Fern Hill Rd., Forest Grove, Oregon.
Slater confirmed with Bruce Long, R10/RCRA/OOO, via phone on September 16th that the facility was the subject of pending EPA enforcement, however, Mr. Long, the inspector on the case, would not be available because he was in Seattle preparing with the Office of Regional Counsel to provide testimony before an administrative hearing in an unrelated case. Since Slater had no enforcement credential and has never been an inspector Mr. Long refferred him to Daniel Heister, FOSC R10/ECL/OOO. Slater requested Heister's help to conduct the on-site activity based on Heister's experience as both an Inspector and an FOSC to ensure the evidence was appropriately secured. Heister was briefed on the particulars of the case at approximately 1530 hrs on September 16, 2009. Heister agreed to meet Slater at the facility at at 700 hrs the following morning. Forest Grove, OR is approximately 20 miles west of Portland.
Heister met Slater at the above facility the following morning There was no one at the facility when they arrived at 7:15. After knocking on the door of the facility and confirming no one was present Slater and Heister waited an additional Thirty minutes when they decided to seal the container parked on the west side of the building. The shipping container was in the open and not behind any fencing or barriers. They did not open the shipping container to examine its contents they simply locked it. In addition to a padlock, Heister placed three signed and dated custody seals over the rubber seal on the container doors. Mr. Slater wrote a short explanatory note with Ms. Chu's phone number for questions from the facility and attached it to the container. Please see attached photos. Heister and Slater left the facility at approximately 800 hrs on September 17,2009.
