Issue No. 8

The Environmental & Safety Newsletter 

for Vehicle Maintenance & Refueling Operations

June 27, 2003

A Service of 

Automotive Environmental & Safety Engineering

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

www.envirosafeshop.com 

Below is a summary of the latest EPA and OSHA news and enforcement activity related to vehicle maintenance and refueling operations and other items of interest since March 20, 2003. Feel free to forward this on to others with all links intact. Feedback welcome: comply@envirosafeshop.com 

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IN THIS ISSUE

OSHA Fines Yellow Freight $83,500

EPA Fines U.S. Postal Service for Underground Fuel Tank Violations

U.S. EPA Issues Order to Trucking Company to
Comply With Stormwater Regulations

UST Enforcement Action

SPCC Deadlines Extended to August 17, 2004

More . . .

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OSHA Fines Yellow Freight $83,500

A freight hauler's failure to adequately train and equip its workers to respond safely to a chemical release has resulted in a total of $83,500 in fines from OSHA.

Yellow Freight System, based in Overland Park, Kansas, was cited in March for alleged repeat and serious violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act following an OSHA inspection prompted by a Sept. 16, 2002, spill of the hazardous chemical pyridine/2-chloropyridine at its North Reading, Mass., terminal.

OSHA's inspection found that the employees who responded to the release lacked the required training to do so and also failed to wear required personal protective equipment, including appropriate respirators, hand protection and impervious chemical protection suits, explained OSHA.

OSHA explained that the bulk of the fine, $75,000, is for four alleged repeat violations, so classified because Yellow Freight has previously been cited for substantially similar violations at facilities in Houston Texas, Tampa, Fla., Albany, N.Y., and Shreveport, La. Two of the citations address the lack of training and appropriate protective equipment for the workers who responded to the release while the other two concern the use of defective forklift trucks and fall hazards from missing guardrails among other violations. (Source: OSHA)

AESE Announces Enhanced Demo of Online Service for Vehicle Maintenance

AESE has recently announced it has expanded and improved its online demonstration project of its environmental and safety programs for vehicle maintenance operations. Now Internet users can test-drive a portion of the service without registration.

"We want to demonstrate the power and functionality of our products delivered electronically to whet the appetite of as many potential users as possible,” says Dave Augenstein, President of AESE. “After taking the test drive, those who are interested in subscribing to the full-version should contact us to qualify for a $100 discount upon the official launch.”

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EPA Fines U.S. Postal Service for Underground Fuel Tank Violations

Honolulu and Waikiki Locations Cited for Monitoring and Maintenance Failures

EPA, working jointly with Hawaii Department of Health staff, fined the U.S. Postal Service in Hawaii $1,500 for violating federal underground storage tank regulations.

The Waikiki and the Honolulu Main Post Office were cited for
failing to monitor their tanks at least every 30 days for petroleum releases and for neglecting the required annual maintenance on their leak detection systems.

The EPA frequently conducts unannounced tank inspections. Owners and operators who receive a citation are required to correct the violations, submit requested documentation, and pay the settlement amount within 30 days. If they do not pay the settlement amount and comply within this time, they are subject to formal enforcement action that carries penalties of up to $11,000 per violation per tank per day in addition to the added cleanup costs for leaking tanks. (Source: EPA)

U.S. EPA Issues Order to Trucking Company to
Comply With Stormwater Regulations

EPA announced in April that it has issued an administrative order to Keep On Trucking of Rancho Cucamonga, California for the company to immediately comply with federal and state stormwater regulations.

Specifically, the company has failed to comply with reporting requirements and incorporate appropriate management practices at the facility.  The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board has contacted Keep on Trucking a number of times about its violations and issued a notice of noncompliance with regulations in July 2002 and has also issued two notices of violations including one after an inspection of the company in October 2002.

The EPA order requires the company to immediately stop unauthorized storm water discharges; submit its most recent stormwater pollution prevention plan and a stormwater monitoring plan; submit annual reports for 2001-02; and submit a report that documents what it has done to correct violations.

Failure to comply with this order could make Keep on Trucking liable for civil penalties by the EPA of $27,500 per day.

For more information on U.S. EPA stormwater regulations, visit:
http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/watestormwater.html

Free AESE Catalog

AESE's 20-page, 2003 Catalog has been published at www.envirosafeshop.com/catalog.htm. It features environmental and safety guides, training tools and videos for vehicle maintenance operations (over 50 products).  

UST Enforcement Action

Plaza Fuel, Inc., owner of the Delaware Truck Stop in New Castle, Del., has agreed to pay a $6,000 penalty to settle an EPA complaint alleging violations of regulations designed to prevent fuel leaks from underground storage tanks.

EPA's December 27, 2002 complaint cited Plaza Fuel for violating record-keeping and inventory control requirements which assist in determining if the tanks have a leak  For more information on EPA's underground storage tank program, visit: http://www.epa.gov/swerust1/

As part of the settlement, the company neither admitted nor denied liability for the alleged violations, but certified that it is now in compliance with applicable storage tank requirements.

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Radiator Shop Owner Charged in Haz Waste Violations

Curtis Wayne Ford, owner of Western Slope Radiator in Grand Junction, Colo., was charged on March 21 in Mesa County Colorado District Court with violating the Colorado Hazardous Waste Act for allegedly storing hazardous wastes without a permit. The unpermitted storage of hazardous wastes can present a human health hazard to individuals who visit or perform work at the facility. The bringing of charges is merely an accusation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in a court of law.

Jiffy Lube Busted

Suddenly, the Van Dorn Street Jiffy Lube was being cordoned off with yellow police tape. Television crews were kept at a distance as a team of investigators studied an ominous stain on the shop's driveway. Witnesses were interviewed and samples were collected for the lab to analyze. A prosecutor was summoned. Read More.

SPCC Deadlines Extended to August 17, 2004

The EPA has extended the compliance dates in the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations to August 17, 2004, to amend their SPCC plans to conform with revisions to the SPCC regulations that became effective last summer -- and until Feb. 17, 2005, to implement those amendments. (Source: EPA)

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Senate Unamimously Approves UST Legislation

The U.S. Senate has approved by unanimous consent the Underground Storage Tank (UST) Compliance Act (S. 195). The UST Compliance Act would require the inspection of all tanks every two years and increase the federal emphasis on the training of UST operators. The legislation emphasizes compliance of tanks owned by federal, state, and local governments, and provides $125 million per year for cleanup of sites contaminated by MTBE. The bill also provides increased funding to administer the federal UST program. Attention now turns to the House of Representatives, where Ohio Congressman Paul Gillmor is drafting companion legislation.  

Government to Pay to Crush Older Vehicles?

(May 16, 2003) The automotive aftermarket industry has vowed to fight federal funding of old vehicle scrappage ("car crusher") programs included in the U.S. Department of Transportation's proposed "Safe and Flexible Transportation Efficiency Act of 2003" (SAFETEA). U.S. taxpayer dollars would be used to purchase and crush cars made in 1979 and before and provide owners an incentive payment to do so.

Scrappage will not achieve its intended goal of improving air quality, but it will damage automotive aftermarket businesses and eliminate American jobs. Under the program, states would use federal CMAQ funds to turn pre-1980 vehicles into blocks of scrap metal. "Classic" or "parts cars" would not be spared from the crusher. Salvageable used parts would be lost rather than being rebuilt and reused to keep other vehicles running. According to opponents, the program would also have a disproportionately adverse effect on lower and fixed-income Americans who depend on older vehicles and their replacement parts for daily transportation. (Source: www.collisionweek.com)

CARB Revises Zero-Emission Vehicle

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has revised its 1990 plan that called for 10 percent of new cars in California sold this year to be zero-emission (i.e., battery-powered electric) vehicles. CARB has approved a plan which requires carmakers to offer hybrid cars beginning in 2005, with as many as 150,000 sold annually by 2010. CARB also directed the automobile manufacturers to build a demonstration fleet of 250 fuel cell cars by 2008; 2,500 by 2011; and 25,000 by 2014. The revision acknowledges the difficulty in getting battery-powered electric cars to market.

New Specs for Preparing Government Bids for Tire Retreads and Repair Issued by Tire Retread Information Bureau http://www.retread.org/Government/index.cfm/ID/242.htm