Opinion ID: 162640
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Transporting Hazardous Waste to Facility Without a Permit (Overholt).

Text: 122 The indictment charged Overholt with knowingly causing the transportation of hazardous materials (carburetor cleaner) to a facility that was not permitted to accept them. He argues that there was insufficient evidence to convict him on this count because the Government failed to prove he knew that the facility where he sent the carburetor cleaner lacked a hazardous waste permit. 123 The RCRA provides criminal penalties for any person who ... knowingly transports or causes to be transported any hazardous waste identified or listed under this subchapter to a facility which does not have a permit under this subchapter.... 42 U.S.C. § 6928(d)(1). Although this circuit has not spoken directly on the issue, those courts that have considered the knowingly requirement under this statute agree that the Government must show that the defendant knew the facility did not have a hazardous waste permit. See United States v. Speach, 968 F.2d 795, 796 (9th Cir.1992); United States v. Hayes Int'l Corp., 786 F.2d 1499, 1504 (11th Cir. 1986). Because the government does not argue otherwise on this appeal, we assume without deciding that the government had to prove that Overholt knew the hazardous waste was being transported to a facility without a permit. 124 ODEQ inspectors told Overholt that his storage tanks contained ortho-dichlorobenzene (a component of the carburetor cleaner) and instructed him not to remove it. Despite the inspectors' warnings, Overholt promptly arranged to dispose of the hazardous material. He called a trucking company, falsely telling it that he needed 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel hauled away. The trucking company did not have a permit to haul or store hazardous materials. Two days later, when the driver sent to do the job asked Overholt whether the tanks contained some kind of solvent, Overholt insisted that the substance was diesel fuel. Overholt signed a manifest stating that the load contained no hazardous materials. He did not ask anyone at the trucking company whether it carried a hazardous waste permit for its trucks or disposal facility. When Overholt was questioned a month later by an ODEQ investigator about what had happened to the hazardous material, he told a series of lies. 125 The jury could properly find beyond a reasonable doubt that Overholt would have had no reason to engage in his consistent pattern of deceit unless he knew the trucking company lacked a proper permit. See United States v. Self, 2 F.3d 1071, 1088 (10th Cir.1993) (Certainly, the government may prove a defendant had actual knowledge of a material and operative fact by proving deliberate acts committed by the defendant from which actual knowledge can be logically inferred.) (internal quotation marks omitted). 126