Issue No. 4

The Environmental & Safety Newsletter 

for Vehicle Maintenance & Refueling Operations

September 23, 2002

A Service of 

Automotive Environmental & Safety Engineering (AESE) 

Specializing in Environmental/EPA and Safety/OSHA Compliance, Auditing and Training Guides for Fleet and Vehicle Maintenance Operations.

Below are News and a summary of the latest EPA and other enforcement activity related to vehicle maintenance and refueling operations since February 2002. Feel free to forward this on to others.

In this issue:

SPCC Rules Revised

EPA Enforcement Actions

OSHA Wins, Small Business Loses

EPA Promotes EMS

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  comply@envirosafeshop.com 

Before the news, we have two announcements for our customers and readers.

     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.

     The new book Vehicle Maintenance Manager's Guide to Environmental Excellence ($79, 150 pages, with test) can be used to train shop supervisors and facility-level environmental coordinators. 

SPCC Rules Revised

EPA issued revised rules for Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) Plans in July 2002. Now exempted from preparing an SPCC Plan are facilities with aboveground storage containers of 1320 gallons of petroleum products (including used oil) or less. Only containers of 55 gallons or more need to be counted, rather than all containers. Please note that SPCC Plan applicability is based on maximum container capacity and not the actual amount of petroleum products.

If an SPCC facility has a one time discharge of petroleum product of more than 1000 gallons, a report must be made to the EPA Regional Administrator or the delegated state authority. Under the revised rule, however, two discharges of 42 gallons or more within a 12-month period also requires a report.

Most state and local governments will follow the federal thresholds, although some states and counties might be stricter.

Another provision in the revised rule exempts federal government facilities from civil penalties, as EPA determined the federal government is not a “person” as defined by the Clean Water Act.

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EPA enforcement actions

Below are some of the EPA enforcement actions relevant to vehicle maintenance and refueling operations since April 2002. (Main source: U.S. EPA)

Roadway Express has recently settled for $41,000 with Ohio EPA over alleged violations of the wastewater discharge permit for its trucking terminal in Copley, Ohio.  The company was also charged with installing an oil/water separator without obtaining a permit.

Arco Agrees to Pay $45 Million for

California UST Violations

California EPA and the state’s Office of Attorney General announced in June that ARCO has agreed to pay $45.8 million to settle complaints that many of its gas stations’ underground tanks do not meet state and federal environmental standards. The agreement calls for ARCO to pay the state $25 million in fines and costs, and spend $20.8 million to upgrade tanks at stations. The settlement sets a national record for these types of cases.

College Faces $111,000 in EPA Fines for Waste Violations

Manhattan College, located in the Bronx, New York, faces a $111,199 penalty for alleged violations of hazardous waste regulations. The U.S. EPA, as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure environmental compliance by institutions of higher learning, has issued an enforcement action against Manhattan College alleging violations of federal and New York State laws that provide for identification, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes. The hazardous waste that is the subject of the complaint includes mercury, arsenic, spent solvents and paint, used fluorescent light bulbs, used computer monitors and other wastes generated by or used in the Manhattan College print shop, labs and maintenance facilities at its two Bronx facilities.

EPA and Central Oil and Supply, Corp. of Monroe, Louisiana, Settle Case

The U.S. EPA and Central Oil and Supply Corporation of Monroe, Louisiana, recently agreed to settle a case involving 43 alleged violations of the federal and state underground storage tank (UST) regulations at six locations for $150,000.

The violations were found during compliance inspections conducted jointly with EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) on June 15, 2000. Nineteen USTs at six facilities were inspected.

The violations involved failure to provide adequate leak detection for the tanks and piping, failure to provide corrosion protection for metal components of the piping, failure to install adequate overfill protection and failure to test the corrosion protection systems adequately. Federal and state UST regulations require specific equipment and methods to be in place on tanks and piping to prevent leaks, spills and overfills from occurring, and if they should occur, they are to be quickly detected and cleaned up.

Employee of the Month Award?

Ted Searcy, an employee of Quarter Master, an auto parts cleaning business located in Kernersville, N.C., was sentenced to serve eight months in prison, pay $4,809 in restitution to the Winston Salem/Forsyth County Office of Emergency Management and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources and serve 12 months supervised probation on April 25. Quarter Master cleaned auto parts associated with racing cars by dipping the parts into vats of nitric acid. Searcy transported approximately 70 drums of waste acid from the vats to a barn in Kernersville and other locations in Guilford and Randolph counties where it was illegally stored.

Owner of Former Ship Repair

Company Given Jail Term

Guy O. Hoy, III, the owner of Hoy’s Marine, a Newport, Ore., ship repair facility that ceased doing business in May 2000, was sentenced on June 4 to four months in prison for violating the Clean Water Act. Hoy also was ordered to subsequently serve four months of home detention, perform 40 hours of environmental community service and pay $70,000 restitution and $27,000 in state fines.

Hoy’s company renovated and painted ships by raising them out of the Yaquina River and pressure washing and sand blasting the hulls. Twice previously fined and repeatedly warned since 1996 by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to cease the practice, Hoy continued to allow sandblast grit and antifoulant marine paint to be discharged into the Yaquina River. Sandblasting residue and antifoulant marine paint can contain heavy metals, which can harm fish and aquatic life.  

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Army Settles Fuel Tank Issues At Walter Reed Medical Center

The U.S. Army has settled alleged violations of fuel storage tank regulations at Walter Reed Medical Center facilities in Washington D.C. and Silver Spring, Md. with the U.S. EPA.

On June 21, 2000, an inspection by EPA of the two facilities revealed that the Army had failed to report suspected fuel leaks to the appropriate District or Maryland environmental officials, and failed to take required spill prevention measures at certain underground storage tanks. The violations involved 11 diesel fuel and gasoline underground tanks at both facilities, ranging in capacity from 1,000 to 20,000 gallons.

In a consent agreement with EPA, the Army has agreed to pay a $36,195 penalty, and install and operate a $108,000 leak detection alarm system for 37 underground storage tanks and above-ground tanks at the two facilities.

The Army has corrected the cited violations, and certified that it is now in compliance with applicable federal fuel tank regulations. As part of the settlement, the Army neither admitted nor denied liability for the alleged violations.

OSHA Wins, Small Businesses Lose

A federal appeals court ruled in favor of the OSHA and against a small business that missed a deadline to contest an OSHA fine. The reason for missing the deadline: a secretary had lost the citation letter behind the seat of her car.

When the letter was found, Russell B. Le Frois Builders Inc. contacted OSHA to appeal the fine. The independent OSHA Review Commission decided the New York construction company had a legitimate excuse for missing the deadline, but OSHA refused to reconsider its $11,265 fine against the company.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with OSHA that the review commission lacked the power to consider the reasons a small business might miss a deadline for responding to a citation.

“Under this decision, there is virtually no relief for any small business that for good reasons cannot respond to an OSHA citation within the agency’s rigid 15-day time frame,” says Karen Harred, executive director of the NFIB Legal Foundation. (Source: BizJournals.com)

Tanknology Caught in Falsifying

Tank Tests

The Department of Justice and the U.S. EPA announced recently that Tanknology-NDE, International, Inc. has agreed to plead guilty to 10 felony counts of presenting false claims and making false statements to federal agencies. The guilty pleas were for false underground storage tank (UST) testing services performed by Tanknology employees at federal facilities in 10 different federal districts. Tanknology also has agreed to pay a $1 million criminal fine and restitution of $1.29 million to the United States.

Tanknology has admitted in a plea agreement that from January 1997 until December 1999, Tanknology testers had performed false tests at federal facilities across the country, including U.S. Postal facilities, military bases and a NASA facility. Tanknology is the largest UST testing company in the United States, with four regional offices and six field offices located across the country. Its corporate headquarters are in Austin, Texas.

EPA Promotes Environmental Management Systems

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman in May issued the Agency’s Position Statement on Environmental Management Systems (EMS). The statement promotes broader use of the systems, which are effective management tools to help companies and other organizations fulfill their environmental responsibilities.

The use of EMS complements needed regulatory controls and enables a facility to comprehensively manage the environmental footprint of its entire operation. This includes unregulated aspects such as energy, water use, climate change, odor, noise, dust, and habitat preservation. It encourages pollution prevention through source reduction and fosters continuous improvement of the facility’s environmental performance.

EMS are viewed as a valuable tool for accomplishing EPA’s mission, because they apply a multi-media approach, help facilities assure compliance, and promote cost savings, operational efficiency and improved supplier performance.

The Agency is also working with state and local governments to promote EMS.

For more information, contact Luke C. Hester at 202-564-781hester.luke@epa.gov

Don’t forget to view and print the new, 2002 Catalog at www.envirosafeshop.com/catalog.htm