Business 8th Edition by Marianne Jennings

Exercise 33

Kelley Technical Coatings is an industrial paint manufacturing company that operates two plants in Louisville, Kentucky. Arthur Sumner was the vice president in charge of manufacturing operations for Kelley. Sumner oversaw the manufacturing process at both plants, including the storage and disposal of hazardous wastes. He was also responsible for environmental regulatory compliance, and submitted the necessary paperwork to the state environmental authorities to register Kelley as a generator of hazardous waste.
Kelley generated hazardous wastes in its manufacturing process, including spent solvents, such as toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene, and methyl ethyl ketone; excess and unusable paint, paint resins, and other paint ingredients that contained, among other things, toxic heavy metals such as chromium, lead, cadmium, and nickel; and paint sludge. Kelley accumulated hundreds of drums of these waste materials and stored them in drums behind one of its plants. Kelley never applied for a permit to store or dispose of its hazardous wastes on-site.
In July 1992 when the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection inspected the Kelley plants, they found between 600 and 1,000 drums behind one of the plants. The drums had been stored on-site for more than 90 days, and in some cases for many years. Some of the drums had rusted and were leaking on the ground.
Between 1986 and 1989, Sumner had arranged for a licensed hazardous waste disposal company to remove and dispose of some of the drums containing hazardous wastes. From late 1989 to July 1992, however, no drums of hazardous waste were shipped off-site. Instead, in an effort to save money, Kelley contracted with a hazardous waste disposal company to come on site and drain the liquids from the drums. After the bulk of the hazardous wastes were drained off, employees were directed to pour off any rainwater that had collected into the drums onto the ground and to consolidate the remaining residue into one drum. The consolidation process resulted in the spilling of hazardous substances onto the ground.
Both Kelley and Sumner were convicted under the RCRA. They appealed their convictions on the grounds that they did not have the mens rea required for conviction under the RCRA statute. Are they correct? Are they criminally responsible? [ U.S. v Kelley Technical Coatings, Inc., 157 R3d 432 (C.A. 6th 1998)]