Illegal dumping of lead/arsenic into waterways by SeaSoft

[Bruce Justinen]

For all of you who claim you have the FACTS. You too, may have your day in court also. I have been so slandered and vilified by so many who seem to know everything and seem to have it all figured out. So here are a few of the facts. This is not a defense because I do not owe any of you a defense. I have run SEASOFT SCUBA ethically and have always tried to do the right thing for 36 years.

We have not been found guilty of anything by the Department of Ecology, there will be a trial next June, 2021. There will also be a second trial, we have filed suit against the WA State Department of Ecology for willful slander and libel and are asking for $20,000,000 in real and punitive damages. I will not discuss any details about this case though I long too.

I was also accused of entering an ex-employee's home last January. I had another employee with me and we had gone to see if she was home. This employee had known her for 10 years, they had both done drugs together. With me sitting in the car, he knocked on the door and when she did not answer, he suddenly ran around the back of the house. I WAS NOT AWARE THAT HE WAS GOING TO DO THIS. Less than a MINUTE later he walked out the front door, got into the car and said to me, "I've known her for years, she never locks her door, so I jumped in the open bathroom window to see if she was OK." Nothing was taken, even the ex-employee said that.

I NEVER even got out of the car! Yet, despite this, the ex-employee has had us charged and because of the COVID 19 we are stuck in a legal no man's land. Before this incident, I had never even had handcuffs on in my entire life. It was so embarrassing and shaming just like all of these posts are. I have always tried to be honest and truthful and to treat people right. Oh, I've made plenty of mistakes but even with those, I have tried to make them right.

WA Labor and Industries has made SEASOFT a better company.

When this thing started in 2018 we had our air tested on the person who was filling our lead products and the results were 26.2 ug/cu. ft., the PEL (permissible exposure limit) for lead in the air is 50. This last March in our most recent air sampling, our lead filling machine operator's air measured .03 ug/cu. M. PEL 50. Yes, .03 ug/cu M.

We test our employees that work with lead every year with a BLOOD SERUM LEAD DRAW to measure the amount of lead in their bloodstream. In July, 2018 our lead filler had a lead blood level of 24 and the PEL is 50. The latest test in April was a 14 with the PEL being 50. Our head sewer: July, 2018 - 5, April, 2020 - 1, with a PEL of 50.

Don't always believe what you read.

This is the last thing I will write about this. For years I have tried to help people. I have hired multiple people who were on work release from jail. People who were trying to start life over. People who were homeless and just needed a break. People that had a learning disability or slight mental illness. I hate to put this down because it brands people because some of the above have gone on to be very successful. Some are now homeowners, have great jobs, even a couple who met here have been together for years now - happily!

But there were many failures as well, I still couldn't make the choices for them, I couldn't get up for them, I couldn't respect boundaries for them, I couldn't come to work for them, the list goes on. And, of course, some of them, I had to let go, even if it hurt to do so.

But I gave them a shot and no one else did, I'm OK with that even if I have had to pay dearly for it. At first, it was hard to sleep at night. But sleep has come easier because I know that I did the best I could and I never did anything to hurt anybody or the earth and waters that I love intentionally.

 

[wnissen]

Wow.

 

[Bruce Justinen]

I know it is almost 4 years later but I am just getting caught up with life. The Washington State Department of Ecology's PRESS RELEASE of Dec. 11, 2018 was devastating for our business and for me. It took over a year to determine what took place and who was responsible for it.

The visit by Labor & Industry and Ecology took place over the last week of June and the 5th of July, 2018. My wife Noreen and I had left for our annual sales road trip approximately June 19 or 20th, 2018.

I KNOW LEAD, I have handled millions of lbs. of lead in the last 35 years. I know the correct way to handle lead. We have a whole set of protocols and best practices in place to make sure that what happened while I was gone doesn't happen. But I cannot control people's choices when I am not there and the breakdown in the management that was replacing me failed to intercede when the protocols were being breeched.

Again, though, I am still responsible and we should have been fined. We just should NOT have been fined $197,000 as a first time offender. Secondly, we did not deserve to be libeled with lies and untruths that destroyed our business as the Washington State Department of Ecology doled out its vigilante justice without regard to due process or the rule of law. There were no checks and balances, ECOLOGY has no need for a court or a judge. It just takes that Press Release and throws it over a big branch, puts it around your neck and then kicks your horse. No one or at least, very few are going to listen to you.

The Washington State Department of Ecology has destroyed countless businesses, relationships, marriages, and even your health, your self esteem, your financial health and that have done all of this while making unproven, unsubstantiated statements of fact about you.

So it should go without saying that we are suing them for actual and punitive damages.

Thanks for listening. I'll keep you all updated.

Bruce

 

[broncobowsher]

Wish you the best with that. This has really been drawn out. Hope you win. Not that government is bad, but when it gets out of hand it can really get out of hand. If what you say is true (I've heard your side, there are 2 sides) there are some people who are out of touch and shouldn't be allowed in this line of work anywhere near this stuff.

 

[rjack321]

I know it is almost 4 years later but I am just getting caught up with life. The Washington State Department of Ecology's PRESS RELEASE of Dec. 11, 2018 was devastating for our business and for me. It took over a year to determine what took place and who was responsible for it.

The visit by Labor & Industry and Ecology took place over the last week of June and the 5th of July, 2018. My wife Noreen and I had left for our annual sales road trip approximately June 19 or 20th, 2018.

I KNOW LEAD, I have handled millions of lbs. of lead in the last 35 years. I know the correct way to handle lead. We have a whole set of protocols and best practices in place to make sure that what happened while I was gone doesn't happen. But I cannot control people's choices when I am not there and the breakdown in the management that was replacing me failed to intercede when the protocols were being breeched.

Again, though, I am still responsible and we should have been fined. We just should NOT have been fined $197,000 as a first time offender. Secondly, we did not deserve to be libeled with lies and untruths that destroyed our business as the Washington State Department of Ecology doled out its vigilante justice without regard to due process or the rule of law. There were no checks and balances, ECOLOGY has no need for a court or a judge. It just takes that Press Release and throws it over a big branch, puts it around your neck and then kicks your horse. No one or at least, very few are going to listen to you.

The Washington State Department of Ecology has destroyed countless businesses, relationships, marriages, and even your health, your self esteem, your financial health and that have done all of this while making unproven, unsubstantiated statements of fact about you.

So it should go without saying that we are suing them for actual and punitive damages.

Thanks for listening. I'll keep you all updated.

Bruce

As far as I can tell, you never even appealed this notice of violation to the Pollution Control Hearings Board. (PCHB for out of state folks that's a group of three administrative law judges who decide cases like this outside of superior court as a first stop. If you lose before the PCHB you're entitled to appeal before Thurston County Superior Court which is the next relevant legal stop, then appeals court and finally state supreme court)

If you did, I'd love to see their opinion. Many of your violations seem to have been enhanced by your statements to the inspectors about your "routine disposal practices" at the time.

At one point you were "appealing to the US Supreme Court"... apparently that didn't work out either. So I am eager to see your next lawsuit filing against Ecology for damages.

 

[Zef]

The seems to be inconsistencies between the report posted above and the statements that Bruce has posted on ScubaBoard regarding the nature of the violations.

@Bruce Justinen , can you please explain the delta between your statements on the board and the report from Ecology?

-Z

 

[Fishdip]

"""""Do I see a garden hose slowly siphoning off mostly clear water or do I see wheelbarrows, buckets and barrels of lead and wastes being discarded in the dark?"""" You said it was clean water and then in a nother update stated mostly clean?