The former chief executive officer, and chairman of a wastewater company in Ventura County has entered no contest pleas to some misdemeanor charges stemming from a November 2014 explosion which released toxic chemicals from the firm’s facility near Santa Paula.
Ventura County prosecutors say Douglas Brian Edwards faced charges of storing incompatible chemicals, failing to provide employees with proper protective devices, and failing to update a hazardous materials inventory. Investigators say the mixing, and disposal of hazardous chemicals in a truck not rated to handle them led to the blast.
No one died, but dozens of employees and first responders were injured by the explosion at the Santa Clara Waste Water Company facility.
The Oxnard man was placed on three years probation, he paid $350,000 in restitution, and he can’t work in the environmental services field.
