New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph A. Foster and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Commissioner Thomas S. Burack announce that Mark E. Whippie of Keene, New Hampshire entered pleas of guilty in Cheshire County Superior Court to two Class A misdemeanor charges of failure to report the unlawful disposal of hazardous waste. The court imposed the maximum fine of $2,000 plus $480 penalty assessment on each charge. The court also sentenced Whippie to two consecutive terms of 10 days in the House of Correction, suspended upon Whippie's payment of the fine at court immediately and his continued good behavior for a year.

New Hampshire law requires those who transport and dispose of hazardous waste to hold a proper permit issued by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES). It also requires that any generator of hazardous waste, or employee of a hazardous waste facility who becomes aware of violations of the Hazardous Waste Management law immediately report the violation to NHDES.

In May, 2010 the Timken Company notified NHDES that an employee had taken drums of waste solvent, left over from the cleaning of industrial parts at the Keene plant, and set them aside for a supervisor, Whippie, to take home and use to heat his barn. The drums contained a mixture of at least two spent solvents that were highly ignitable and should have been transported by permitted hazardous waste haulers to a permitted facility for disposal. After preliminary investigation by NHDES, the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigation Division conducted interviews of many Timken employees and others regarding the disappearance of drums of hazardous waste. That investigation resulted in criminal charges against Whippie.