Production Pattern and Foundry of Mound House has released a statement charging that a video posted online was designed to falsely accuse the company of illegal waste dumping.
“We believe that this video was produced by the men involved to falsely accuse the company of directing them to illegally dispose of wastes from our manufacturing process and to further their own agendas,” said the statement issued by Gillian Pallesen, PPF accounts manager.
Pallesen says one of the men in the video posted on YouTube and Reddit was no longer employed by PPF when the video was released “due to an issue unrelated to this video.”
PPF spokesman Craig Banko confirmed the statement Monday saying the investigation into the video — which has been removed from YouTube — is ongoing.
“PPF does not direct — or sanction — employees to illegally or irresponsibly dispose of wastes or materials that are involved in our manufacturing process,” the statement says.
PPF is a foundry that specializes in casting in aluminum alloys for a variety of different applications. It employs nearly 200 people.
In the video, a man claiming to be a PPF employee says their boss ordered them to dump waste.
“We’ve been ordered to dump these barrels two or three a night and burn them out,” he says. “This is so illegal.”
The video shows the men dumping barrels of sludge on the ground and other barrels with burned remains in the bottom.
When the video was posted, Banko said it “completely blindsided us.”
“This is not our policy. This is not how we’ve done business for 60 years,” he said.
The statement points out that tests have been taken and sent to laboratories for evaluation and that “no one knows for certain what substance was in the barrels shown when these men performed in the video.”
“If the substance is indeed shown to be toxic material after testing results come in, we will pursue actions in conjunction with the EPA to enforce the law and prevent any current or ex-employees from ever doing something so heinous for their own purposes.”
The director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said last week his environmental protection division is investigating.