U.S. District Judge Dee Benson also fined Charles Matlock $20,000 for his role in manipulating an air-pollution test at Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co.
The sentencing ended the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's case against Alabama-based McWane Co.'s Utah plant. In February, Benson slapped a $3 million fine on Pacific States, the largest ever given in Utah for an environmental crime.
The EPA also took on McWane divisions in its home state, New Jersey, and in Texas.
Granta Y. Nakayama, the EPA's assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance, said the case sent a message that companies and their senior executives will be held accountable.
"All company employees should definitely think twice about knowingly breaking the law because they should clearly understand that they will face incarceration and fines for harming the environment and putting the public at risk," he said.
Linda Barclay and Keith Wilson attended Matlock's sentencing hearing on Monday in hope of speaking to the judge about the pollution they had seen from the Springville pipe plant, but they were unsuccessful. The two had complained for years to state and local environmental authorities about the black, metallic smoke that poured from the plant's smokestacks only to be told it was operating within the law.
Wilson, who lived within two miles of the plant and works about two-thirds of a mile away, would sometimes bring his children inside from playing because of the pollution.
"I think it is totally appropriate he goes to jail," said Barclay, a Provo resident and co-worker of Wilson.
The former executive pleaded guilty in February of switching the metal that went into the plant from scrap steel to pig iron, which produces a lower level of pollution, so that it would pass a state emissions test. The state used those low-pollution results for years in setting pollution controls at Pacific States.
Defense attorney Max Wheeler urged the judge to give his 67-year-old client probation rather than prison time, as recommended by the EPA's attorneys from the U.S. Justice Department. He noted that Matlock had served in the Marines and had otherwise been a good citizen, and he questioned whether anyone had been harmed by the faulty test.
Matlock addressed the court briefly in a booming Texas drawl, apologizing for disgracing his family and his company. Court documents suggested, however, that the company would reward him for "taking the fall" with a handsome retirement.
In a statement, McWane Co. said it was disappointed the one-time general manager at Pacific States will go to prison. "Our thoughts and prayers are with him at this time, said John Balian, Pacific States' vice president and general manager.
fahys@sltrib.com
