United States v. Atlantic Richfield Company

LARAMORE, Senior Judge.

This is a criminal appeal which involves purely questions of law. The facts are quite simple and are wholly uncontested. The case comes to this court from the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois where defendant-appellant, Atlantic Richfield Company, was found guilty of violating sections 407 and 411 of Title 33, United States Code, 1964. (Act of March 3, 1899, chapter 425, section 13; 30 Stat. 1152).

The above-noted section 407 prohibits the discharge of refuse into navigable waters. Thus, when defendant-appellant was observed by the U. S. Coast…