MICHIGAN CITY -- Agents from state and federal agencies raided the Michigan City Sanitary District Thursday looking for evidence of environmental crimes.
Sources told the Post-Tribune the investigation involves several years of unreported sewer overflows -- including some into Trail Creek -- and the firing of the whistleblower who tipped off the government.
Randall Ashe, a special agent in charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's criminal enforcement division in Chicago confirmed that agents from the EPA, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Indiana State Police helped execute a search warrant from morning until late afternoon Thursday, carrying out documents and computers. Sources said as many as 25-30 agents participated in the raid.
"We executed the search warrant this morning. It's a federal search warrant on the Michigan City Sanitary District looking for evidence of environmental crimes," Ashe said. "I'm not going to deny that I've got 25 or 30 agents out here and I can't deny an investigation."
Feds were tight-lipped about the reason for the investigation but indicated it may relate to unreported overflows.
A memorandum from the Michigan City Clerk in May 2009 states there were "alleged sewer overflows in Washington Park" and that the city's utilities committee met to review what had been done to address the problem and whether IDEM was properly notified.
"I can't tell you if it's related but that's probably good information," EPA's Ashe said.
Former Michigan City Sanitary District employee and current City Councilman Ron Meer first contacted the city council, IDEM and EPA about safety problems and unreported overflows in early May 2009.
"He didn't know at the time if they were reporting overflows and clearly they were not," said Councilman Phil Jankowski, who chairs the city's utility committee. "They won these national and state awards and they weren't reporting stuff."
A worker told the Post-Tribune manholes popped up in Washington Park only 10-15 feet from Trail Creek numerous times as a result of overflows. Workers told the Post-Tribune there were "dozens and dozens of overflows" and cleanups after overflows, but said the district only reported a few over a decade. Indiana law mandates that the district report overflows to IDEM and the public. Sources estimated the violations went unreported from about 2002 through mid-2009.
"Basically, there would be overflows either at the plant or out at various basements with floods," Jankowski said. "A significant one was along the harbor when, instead of vacuuming it up, when having a sewer overflow, they'd just hose it down into the harbor. They knew about it for many many years. People in the city water department knew about it, the sanitary district knew about it."
Jankowski is a long-time critic of Sanitary District General Manager Al Walus, whom he says has "a history of denial and failure to report and trying to hide what was going on."
"The fact he chose to hide it rather than address the issue is clearly where the problem is," Jankowski said. "This Washington Park thing, instead of getting a plan in place, a financial plan in place, they played games for over a year."
IDEM conducted several inspections and found a number of serious violations every time, he said.
He said Meer provided investigators with pictures of the overflows, and employees at the city's water department verified there had been overflows.
Meer confirmed that he's involved with two whistleblower cases, one with the Indiana Occupational Health and Safety Administration and one with the federal equivalent and the EPA.
City personnel director Shelley Dunleavy said Meer worked at the treatment plant from July 1990 until he was fired March 31 this year after a suspension. Jankowski said Meer was fired for bringing the violations to IDEM and the IOSHA.
The district started reporting overflows in May 2009 after Meer brought it to IDEM's attention. IDEM records on overflows were not available, but sources said the district reported about 18 overflows since then. That's after the city recently separated many sewers, which generally leads to fewer overflows.
The city council still had unresolved issues with the sanitary district as of its May 18 meeting.
"I don't think we ever got the answers we were looking for from the sanitary district," Jankowski said. "I think it's been mismanaged for years down there. Walus was basically a political appointee of the mayor. He never worked for a sanitary district. He didn't meet the requirements of the job."
Walus, who was appointed by the previous mayor, Sheila Brillson, was recognized by the Environmental Education Association of Indiana for excellence in environmental education in 2009 for a three-week water quality education program for Michigan City Area Schools students.
"He was working on wetlands with schools instead of correcting the significant problems they had (and) hiding these overflows from the public," Jankowski said.
Walus was at the plant Thursday, according to his secretary, but did not return a call for comment.