EPA Enforcement Roundup: Week of 9/23

The EPA Enforcement Roundup gives you insight into how and why US EPA and state partners assess penalties for environmental noncompliance. 

All violations or claims discussed below are alleged only unless we say otherwise, and we withhold the names of organizations and individuals to protect their privacy.

Your EPA Enforcement Roundup for this week:

A food oil producer and distributor settled with EPA to resolve alleged violations related to a peanut oil spill.

EPA alleged that the company released 6,830 gallons of peanut oil into a neighboring wetland from a railcar with a faulty valve. The wetland drains to an adjacent brook which flows ultimately into the Merrimack River. Under the Consent Agreement and Final Order, which initiated and concluded EPA’s enforcement action simultaneously, the company will pay a $47,813 penalty.

The company spent more than $467,000 to clean up the spilled oil and plans to spend an additional $1 million on improvement projects at its Ayer, Massachusetts facility to help prevent future spills.

A limestone mining processor will pay $23,244 in civil penalties to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.

According to EPA, the company discharged pollutants from its Davenport, Iowa, facility into Donaldson Creek, a tributary to the Mississippi River, in violation of its Clean Water Act permit.

The company processes lime obtained from the quarry adjacent to its facility. During an October 2023 EPA inspection, runoff from the facility was observed discharging into Donaldson Creek, causing the water in the creek to be significantly murky. The company’s Clean Water Act permit prohibits unauthorized discharges into the creek.

An aircraft maintenance facility will spend at least $696,060 in settlement to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations.

Under the settlement, the company will pay a civil penalty of more than $156,000. The company will also replace three diesel ground power units with electric ground power units, as a supplemental environmental project, at a cost of at least $540,060.

EPA claims to have found these violations:

• Exceedances of raw material usage limits, volatile organic material content limits, and volatile organic material emission limits for certain units.
• Inadequately maintained filters and filter records for certain units.
• Inadequately maintained continuous emissions monitoring equipment and continuous emissions monitoring records.
• Untimely reporting an exceedance or deviation.

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Tags: Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, EPA Enforcement Roundup