PINEVILLE – A director with West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection says the owner of two underground storage tanks in Wyoming County failed to comply with state and federal rules regarding the tanks.
The civil case was filed Sept. 8 in Wyoming Circuit Court.
Scott G. Mandirola, director of the DEP’s Division of Water and Waste Management, says, Michael Blankenship (doing business as Hanover Grocery and Hanover Wrecker) failed to maintain leak and corrosion protection and neglected to meet a requirement for annual aggregate coverage of financial responsibility. In addition, to being in arrears on fees he owes the state, Blankenship is accused of not permanently closing a tank system that does not meet performance standards within 12 months and performing tank work without certification. The tanks were inspected in April 2012, according to the complaint.
Mandirola seeks civil penalties totaling $35,000 per day for the violations, as well as compliance with all orders issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. He is being represented by Andrew F. Tarr, in-house counsel for the DEP in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Warren R. McGraw.
Wyoming Circuit Court case number 15-C-168