EPA Enforcement Roundup: Week of 3/6

The EPA enforcement actions come in pairs this week, as two seafood processing facilities and two pipeline companies will pay to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. 
 
These are only a few of the environmental enforcement cases we’ve read about in the last 30 days. See EPA Enforcement actions that colleagues can learn from? Post them on Lion’s Facebook page here. Like Lion’s page so you never miss an update about DOT hazmat, hazardous waste, OSHA workplace safety, and EPA compliance.
 
Last time, we brought you a giant online retailer fined for FIFRA pesticide distribution violations, a petrochemical firm paying $10 million for Clean Air Act (CAA) violations, and a sewage sludge incinerator who self-reported its inability to achieve compliance before a key CAA deadline.

WHO: Two seafood processing facilities 
WHERE: Sand Point and Wrangell, AK
WHAT: Clean Water Act violations 
HOW MUCH: $297,000

 
To resolve alleged violations of Sections 301 and 402 of the Clean Water Act, a seafood processor will remove three acres of “fish waste” from the seafloor surrounding two Alaska plants. 
 
The plants allegedly violated terms of their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, which include volume and size limits for the seafood waste that the facilities grind and deposit on the sea floor. The CWA permit also limits where the plants could deposit fish parts and other solids left over from its processes.  
 
The company now must provide to EPA a Waste Remediation Work Plan complete with monitoring components, a Field Sampling Plan, and a QA Plan— and complete the entire seafood waste cleanup— before December 31, 2019. 
 
Read more about EPA ocean dumping permits here. 
 
EPA’s radar finds the seafood industry often, largely due to the industry’s unique relationship to the Waters of the United States and their storage and use of hazardous chemicals needed to process and store food (e.g., anhydrous ammonia).

 

• A seafood cold storage facility paid for EPCRA and CERCLA chemical release reporting violations  - November 2017

• A salmon cannery in Washington pays $220,000 for Clean Air Act (CAA) chemical risk management violations - October 2017

• A tuna producer pays $6 million to resolve CWA and CAA chemical storage violations. - September 2017

 
If you are responsible for compliance with the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, EPCRA, CERCLA, TSCA, or all of them—join us for the Complete Environmental Regulations Workshop or online course in 2018. Learn the keys to compliance for each major EPA program, and be ready to make optimal decisions about your company’s compliance responsibilities. 
 

WHO: Two pipeline companies 
WHERE: Palos Park, Cook County, IL
WHAT: Clean Water Act Violations
HOW MUCH: $400,000

 
To settle alleged Clean Water Act violations stemming from a 2012 pipeline rupture that spilled 700+ barrels of jet fuel near an Illinois highway, two pipeline companies will pay a $400,000 civil penalty.  The one-foot pipeline discharged fuel into a drainage ditch that led to a navigable water of the US, the Calumet-Saganashkee Channel. 
 
Since the release, the companies have taken actions to replace the damaged pipe and clean up the land, water, and shoreline affected with oversight from EPA and Illinois EPA. In addition to paying the civil penalty, the companies will improve procedures for preventing future ruptures. The company must train personnel on the improved procedures annually and submit an annual report to update EPA on the status of corrective actions and any subsequent releases for three years.  
 

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Tags: Act, Clean, EPA, EPA Enforcement Roundup, EPCRA, fines and penalties, RCRA, Water