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posted July 24, 2009
News from the E.P.A.
Trident Seafoods Pays $112,000+ for Hazardous Chemicals
Seattle’s Trident Seafoods Corporation has settled with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and agreed to pay a $61,354 penalty for violating the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) by failing to properly report the storage of ammonia at four facilities.
Specifically, Trident failed to file Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Forms with local emergency response entities in Alaska and Washington.
In addition to paying the penalty, Trident agreed to perform a Supplemental Environmental Project, providing over $23,000 in emergency response equipment to first responders in Kodiak, Alaska and over $28,000 in response equipment to responders in Akutan, Alaska.
“People’s safety and preventing chemical accidents are a top priority for EPA,” said Edward Kowalski, Director of EPA’s Office of Compliance & Enforcement in Seattle. “We’re committed to reducing the likelihood and severity of accidental chemical releases by enforcing the law, protecting people and the environment and creating a level playing field for industry.”
Today’s settlement addresses violations related to Trident facilities in the Alaskan towns of Kodiak, Akutan and Petersburg, as well as a Trident facility in Seattle, Washington, all which store ammonia in amounts above the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act reportable quantities. The four Trident facilities process seafood.
To learn more about
EPA’s work to protect communities from toxic chemicals through the
Risk Management Program go to: http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/
For more about toxic
effects of Anhydrous Ammonia (NIOSH GUIDE): www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/
Midas Muffler Shop Fined for PCBs in Used Oil
A Midas Muffler shop in Bellevue, WA, has reached a $9,300 settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to resolve alleged federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) violations related to the mishandling of PCBs.
The PCB problems were initially discovered by a used oil recycler in Seattle, who received a shipment of 150 gallons of used oil from Midas in Oct. 2007. Midas did not inform the recycler that the used oil contained PCBs. When the recycler tested the oil and found that it was contaminated with PCBs, they notified EPA. The company was forced to dispose all of the used oil as PCB-contaminated fluid.
Midas’ alleged violations included:
• Failure to properly mark the contaminated oil container with a PCB label;
• Failure to notify EPA in advance of the shipment of the PCB waste;
• Failure to prepare a manifest for the shipment of the PCB waste.
Companies should use either a field screening test kit or send a sample of their used oil to a laboratory for analysis to determine if it contains PCBs. It’s important for companies to make this determination before sending the used oil for energy recovery/disposal. If the used oil is found to have PCBs the company must isolate the PCB containing oil from further contaminating other used oil.
Concerns about the toxicity and persistence of PCBs in the environment urged Congress in 1976 to enact prohibitions on the manufacture, processing and distribution in commerce of PCBs, including “cradle to grave” (i.e. from manufacture to disposal) management of PCBs.
Rules governing PCBs and additional information on the toxic effects of PCBs can be found at EPA’s PCB homepage at: <www.epa.gov/pcb>.
Washington State Department
of Ecology used oil facts, visit: <www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0204006.