Criminal Charges In Lead Paint Case?

Its been three weeks since Spanish Fort Elementary students were forced out of their classrooms because of high levels of lead.
Discovered over the Christmas holidays, the lead came from old paint that was being sandblasted.
Now, News Five has learned the contractor could be facing criminal fines.
Work crews are finished with the cleanup outside the building and now have moved inside the school. The price tag, an estimated 800 thousand dollars.
"Certainly surprised that it has grown to that magnitude." School Superintendent Faron Hollinger says the contractor, Melvin Pierce Painting our of Semmes, is responsible for the contamination and should have to pay for the clean up. A report by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management seems to back him up. "ADEM report is back and I think it speaks for itself our attorneys have taken appropriate action to see that we recoup some or all of that cost."
According to the ADEM report, "...a person who generates a solid waste must determine if that waste is hazardous..."
In this case, paint sandblasted from from 40 year old awnings outside the school was the source of the lead contamination.
The report goes on to say, "...M-P-P violated the Alabama Hazardous Waste Management and Minimization Act...and failed to adequately determine if waste mixture generated from sandblasting activity was hazardous waste."
Paint was left on school grounds which according to ADEM, "...constituted disposal of the waste on school grounds by M-P-P who did not have a hazardous waste permit."
Melvin Pierce declined an on-camera interview with News Five and instead referred us to his attorney, E.J. Saad who released a statement which says in part:
"The company performed its services in the manner directed by the Owner. The company violated no laws. Melvin Pierce Painting is working with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the Baldwin County School Board to see this matter resolved in a proper manner."
No one knows how long the clean up will take. The longer it does, the higher the cost.
Failure to comply with the ADEM order could result in penalties of up to 25 thousand dollars a day, additional civil penalties, criminal fines and other appropriate sanctions.