MONTICELLO, IA – Federal officials are charging a long-defunct printed circuit board manufacturer with violations of the Clean Water Act for actions taken nearly two decades ago.

The site, which was discovered in September 2009, was contaminated with ignitable, corrosive and toxic hazardous waste, according to published reports. It since has been tested and cleaned by the EPA.

Riddle Inc., which closed in 1991, allegedly stored thousands of gallons hazardous waste without a permit. The former PCB fabricator reportedly kept the material in a building near a tributary that was prone to flooding, and on several occasions over the past 20 years rising waters breached the building.

According to charges filed this week in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids, neither the company nor its owner, Gene Riddle, had permits for storing the hazardous waste, which included some 3,776 gallons stored in more than 200 drums at the site.

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