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Before the news, we have three other announcements for our customers and readers.
1) As part of its 10th Anniversary changes, Environmental Development Corp. (EDC) has changed its name to Automotive Environmental & Safety Engineering (AESE).
2) AESE’s website at www.envirosafeshop.com has been totally redesigned and much more content has been added. Please visit.
3) Our new 20-page, full-color, 2002 Catalog has now been published at www.envirosafeshop.com/catalog.htm. It features environmental and safety guides, training and videos for vehicle maintenance operations (over 50 products). It will print out nicely in B&W or color. We would appreciate it if you pass this on to appropriate individuals inside or outside your organization and thank you for using the order form.
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Now
the News . . .
Michigan
Company Officials
Sentenced in RICO Prosecution
Aaron Smith of Northville, Mich., former president and owner, and Steven Carbeck of Ann Arbor, Mich., Hi-Po’s former operations manager, were sentenced. Smith received 33 months imprisonment and Carbeck 27 months. In addition, Smith will pay restitution of approximately $500,000 to several victims and he will also forfeit an additional $500,000 in funds obtained through illegal activity. Carbeck will be responsible to join Smith in paying $430,000 of the restitution. Hi-Po will pay a $50,000 fine and will make a total of $75,000 in restitution payments.
In their guilty pleas in February, Hi-Po admitted intentionally releasing diesel fuel into a storm sewer and a pond in Ann Arbor to make a fraudulent claim and receive payment from the University of Michigan and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to clean up the releases. $100K
Fine for False Reporting Grease
Depot Inc. of Largo, Fla., was sentenced on Nov. 26, 2001 for violating the
Clean Water Act by failing to report sampling results to the City of Largo in
violation of a pretreatment permit. Grease Depot was ordered to make three
payments: a $50,000 fine, $50,000 in restitution to the City of Largo and
$4,040.43 in restitution for investigative costs to the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection. The company also was put on two years probation. In
2000, the defendant hired a private firm to test its wastewater for Biochemical
Oxygen Demand (BOD) and then submitted the results to the City of Largo.
However, Grease Depot only submitted those results that showed its wastewater
was within the BOD limits allowed in its pretreatment permit. The defendant
knowingly omitted the reports that stated it was out of compliance. EPA said
discharging wastewater with higher than permitted levels of BOD can raise the
cost of sewage treatment at public treatment facilities and may be harmful to
fish and aquatic life if wastewater with high BOD levels is released from sewage
treatment plants into surface waters. EPA
Cites Transport Firm for SPCC Violations EPA
has cited George Morton Sr., owner of Morton Transportation Services, Inc. of
Phenix, Va., for violating oil spill prevention regulations. EPA’s complaint
seeks a $12,535 penalty for the facility’s failure to have a required oil
spill prevention, control and countermeasure (SPCC) plan.
Truck
Plaza Hit with UST Violations EPA
has cited PAM Management, Inc., the owner and operator of the Hickory Run Truck
Plaza in White Haven, Pa., for violating regulations designed to prevent fuel
leaks from underground storage tanks.
New
Website Launched Automotive
Environmental & Safety Engineering (AESE) has launched an expanded and
redesigned website at www.envirosafeshop.com.
Contents pertain to environmental and safety compliance and training in
vehicle/equipment maintenance. Navy
Settles With EPA EPA
announced January 2, 2002 that the U.S. Navy Public Works Center in Apra Harbor,
Guam has agreed to pay $42,000 and perform two environmental projects worth
$380,000 for alleged violations of hazardous waste regulations. The
violations stemmed from the accumulation of a large volume of hazardous wastes.
The materials that were hazardous wastes included paints, adhesives, paint
thinners, insecticides, solvents, batteries, rust removers, coatings, sealants,
disinfectant and cleaner wastes.
The
EPA cited the PWC for failing to comply with the hazardous waste generator
requirements, failing to store hazardous waste under a covered structure,
failing to make hazardous waste determinations, and failing to amend training
and contingency plans. Truck Repair Facilities Ordered To Pay Penalties
For Oil Dumping
EPA
recently announced today that it has ordered Cummins Northwest, Inc. and Myrmo
Sons, Inc. of Bend, Oregon, to pay penalties for illegally disposing of waste
motor oil and other motor vehicle waste fluids directly underground and
potentially into underground drinking water sources. (Source
EPA: September 7, 2001)
Company
to Pay $94,000 for UST & SPCC Violations Richards
Fuel Oil has agreed to comply with underground storage tank and spill prevention
regulations at its Somerville, New Jersey facility and will pay a total of
$94,000 in penalties for violating the regulations, according to the U.S. EPA.
The company also agreed to investigate the tank area for the presence of fuel
leaks and, if necessary, to clean up any contamination. Last
October 2000, EPA had charged Richards Fuel Oil, a retail heating oil firm, with
seven counts of violating the Underground Storage Tank (UST) rules. In addition,
the Agency charged Richards with three counts of violating Spill Prevention,
Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rules, which requires facilities to prepare
SPCC plans, implement these plans and update them every three years. FAA
Proposes $50,000 Civil Penalty The
Federal Aviation Administration has proposed to assess a $50,000 civil penalty
against Sikorsky Support Services, Inc., of Stratford, Conn., for allegedly
violating Department of Transportation hazardous materials regulations. FAA
alleged that on October 30, 2000, Sikorsky Support Services, Inc., offered three
aviation fuel control units containing residual amounts of a flammable liquid to
Federal Express Corporation for transportation by air from Alabama to New
Mexico. Residual fuel in the units is considered “dangerous goods in
machinery” under the rules and is classified as a hazardous material. The
shipment was discovered by an FAA special security agent at the Federal Express
air cargo facility in Albuquerque, three days later. Leaking fuel had saturated
a corner of the shipment’s outer packing. FAA alleged that Sikorsky Support
Services, Inc. offered the shipment of hazardous material when it was not
properly classed, described, packaged, labeled, marked or in condition for
shipment as required by the regulations. In addition, Sikorsky failed to make
emergency response information available. Raceway
Settles with EPA on Tank Charges Raceway
Petroleum Inc. and 15 related companies have settled with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA ) on charges of underground storage tank (UST)
mismanagement at several Raceway gas stations in New Jersey. EPA had issued two
complaints against Raceway and affiliated companies, charging that they did not
follow federal regulations when it came to regularly testing tanks at their gas
stations for leaks and closing out-of-service tanks. The
companies and the agency have reached a settlement in which the companies
committed to comply with all applicable regulations and to make additional
environmental improvements not required by regulation to 12 gas stations costing
$110,000. The companies will also make a $30,000 payment to the federal
Treasury. EPA
had charged the firms with nine counts of tank mismanagement including: failing
to provide a reliable and acceptable method for detecting leaks; failing to
properly close unused USTs; and failing to assess the soil around the unused
waste oil tanks to determine whether they ever released their product. Colorado
Businessman Pleads Guilty to Illegal Waste Disposal Wastes
Poured Down Prairie
Dog Holes An
investigation by a federal/state task force led to a guilty plea without
sentencing considerations for unlawful hazardous waste disposal by Bruce Spence,
owner of Cooling Systems International, Inc. Spence
pleaded guilty on July 13 to unlawfully disposing of hazardous waste. He faces
up to four years in prison and $50,000 per day of violation fine. Spence
ran a mining equipment radiator repair business in Fuita, Colorado at which
toxic lead waste was released. This and other hazardous waste sludge were also
poured into prairie dog holes rather than paying for its lawful disposal. Company
Admits Dumping More Than 200 Gallons of Waste Oil
A
New York City auto repair shop was recently fined $100,000 for illegally dumping more than 200 gallons of waste
oil. The State of New York found that for at least two years, New York Auto
Service recklessly disposed of waste oil and used oil products from its taxi
fleet maintenance operation by pouring them into a leaking underground tank,
contained in a porous concrete vault. Traces
of Degreaser Found in Fruit Traces
of an airplane engine degreaser that has contaminated groundwater around a Utah
air base since 1987 was found in fruit grown nearby. Scientists at Hill Air
Force Base found no immediate health risk but will continue investigating, said
Steve Hicken, an environmental engineer at the base. Utah State University
researchers found trichloroethylene, or TCE, last week in about 90 percent of
fruit from nine homes. TCE has caused cancer in laboratory rats, but it has not
been linked to cancer in humans. The base, about 30 miles north of Salt Lake
City, plans to eliminate the TCE contamination within 30 years. (Source:
Associated Press) Feature Article Hazards
of Superfund
By David M. Augenstein, M.S., P.E.
Recently,
an EPA inspection of a used oil and solvent recycling firm revealed leaking
tanks and drums and open pits full of used solvents and oils. In another case, a
used oil and solvent recycling company was discovered to have been pumping these
materials down toilets into the sanitary sewer system. These facilities have now
been abandoned, the companies bankrupt and the owners jailed. Now imagine that
your organization had sent your used oil, spent solvents and other hazardous
materials to these facilities. Do you have any liability? Can you be made to pay
part (or all) of the cost of cleanup? Yes,
according to an environmental law called CERCLA . . . commonly called Superfund.
EPA will discover that your organization sent materials to the facility upon
reviewing the contracts, receipts and bills of lading. They will then notify
you, via certified mail, that your organization has been named a potential
responsible party (PRP) and must participate in a lengthy legal negotiation to
determine what portion of the cleanup you will pay. The legal process alone can
cost tens of thousands of dollars over the course of 5 to 10 years—before
any cleanup takes place. The cleanup can cost your company hundreds of
thousands, especially if you were a major contributor—or if you were a minor
contributor and there are only a few PRPs. According to the law, you could
(although it is unlikely) be required to pay 100% of the costs even if you sent
only a small amount of material, even if it were legal at the time—during a
period before the law was even enacted! The
selection of a hazardous waste or used oil transportation and processing firm(s)
will be one of the most important environmental decisions your organization will
ever make, and one which will have long-term significance. Take the time now to complete Part 17A of the Environmental Compliance Audit System. If you can answer “yes” to each of these questions, you have exercised good management practices. This should limit your potentially large financial exposure to off-site environmental contamination by the misconduct of your waste service firms. Don’t forget to view and print the new, 2002 Catalog at www.envirosafeshop.com/catalog.htm
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