Radius Recycling, 2 company managers indicted for 2023 fire in Oakland, California

California’s Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price has announced that the Alameda County Criminal Grand Jury issued a 10-count indictment June 28 against Radius Recycling Inc. (formerly Schnitzer Steel) and company managers Daniel Woltmann and Dane Morales. The charges stem from alleged crimes related to a two-day scrap metal fire Aug. 9-10, 2023, at the company’s West Oakland metal-shedding facility.

The unsealed indictment alleges that Radius/Schnitzer, Woltmann and Morales committed numerous felony health and safety code violations, including recklessly emitting an air contaminant that caused great bodily injury or death and knowing or reckless treatment, handling, disposal or storage of hazardous waste in a manner causing an unreasonable risk of fire, explosion, serious injury or death.

Woltmann and Morales also are charged with conspiracy to violate California’s Health and Safety Code, while Woltmann additionally is charged with felony conspiracy to intentionally destroy or conceal evidence.

All defendants are charged with misdemeanor intentional destruction or concealment of evidence, misdemeanor violations of Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and Bay Area Air Quality Monitoring District (BAAQMD) regulations and misdemeanor negligent and reckless release of air contaminants.

In total, Radius/Schnitzer is charged with eight offenses, Morales with nine and Woltmann with all 10 offenses in the indictment.

The investigation allegedly revealed that in the days leading up to the fire, Radius/Schnitzer continued to accumulate scrap metal containing hazardous materials despite equipment failures, knowingly storing materials in unsafe conditions, according to the indictment.

“This grand jury indictment represents the results thus far of my office’s nearly year-long investigation, which we publicly announced days after the fire in August 2023,” District Attorney Pamela Price says. “Under my leadership, the district attorney’s office will not let corporate criminals who poison vulnerable communities for profit get off with a slap on the wrist. This was the third major fire at Radius’ West Oakland metal shredding facility in five years. For far too long, polluting industries like Radius have shrugged off regulations when it was convenient to them, treating minor administrative fines and civil penalties as the cost of doing business, resulting in a terrible legacy of environmental racism in Alameda County.

"Today, we say that ‘business as usual’ is over. We will investigate and prosecute corporate criminals who hurt the people of Alameda County, no matter how large or well-funded these wrongdoers may be.”

Radius Recycling’s lawyer, Aaron Dyer, global co-chair of white collar and government investigations at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in Los Angeles and a former assistant U.S. attorney, shared the following statement with Recycling Today regarding the indictment:

“These charges are false. Radius does not store or treat hazardous waste and did not hide or destroy any evidence. The District Attorney’s Office was at Radius the day the fire was extinguished, along with almost every state and local regulator, and they found no evidence of hazardous waste. Radius let them inspect the burned scrap metal and other fire debris and take photographs and samples. Radius then told them the company would start shredding the burned material later that day to eliminate any risk of further fire—a practice routinely used and approved by the government and fire authorities. Not once did the District Attorney or any regulator object to the processing of the burned material. We are fully confident that the company’s actions will be proven to have prioritized public safety and compliance with the law.”

If convicted on all counts and allegations in the indictment, the company’s potential criminal fine ranges from $625,000 to more than $33 million, while Woltmann’s potential criminal fine ranges from $625,000 to more than $31 million and Morales’s maximum possible criminal fine is more than $1 million. Additionally, each of the felonies with which Woltmann and Morales are charged is punishable upon conviction with a maximum sentence of three years in the county jail.

Earlier this decade, Radius (then Schnitzer) agreed to pay a $4.1 million settlement over allegations that the Portland, Oregon-based company’s metal shredding facility in West Oakland violated the state’s environmental laws.

According to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), the department along with the California attorney general and the Alameda County district attorney investigated the facility over allegations it releases toxic pollution into the air and waterways surrounding a West Oakland neighborhood designated as a disadvantaged community by the California Environmental Protection Agency. DTSC investigators and scientists collected samples of light fibrous material (LFM) exceeding regulatory limits for lead, copper and zinc from businesses, health offices, the Oakland Estuary and other areas within one-half mile of the company's location on Embarcadero West.

The company said at that time it had been working with state and local officials to address their concerns and to settle thematter. However, the company added that state health experts have indicated that LFMs do not pose a human health hazard and there has been no evidence that emissions from the Oakland facility pose a risk to public health and welfare.

The company also was successful in fending off a lawsuit from the Oakland Athletics in 2022, which had proposed stadium development plans for waterfront property at Howard Terminal, near the Schnitzer property.

Although the DTSC has been known to monitor metals shredding operations carefully, in this case, the agency’s previous classification of the company's metal grades and residue as nonhazardous worked in the recycling company’s favor. The California First District Court of Appeal cited the DTSC classification in overturning a previous ruling in Athletics' favor.

According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, a three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled “there is no threat to human health or the environment from managing treated metal-shredder waste as nonhazardous.” The unanimous ruling was authored by Justice Alison Tucher.