Industrial Laundry in Lebanon, N.H. Faces Fine for Clean Water Violations

News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
August 28, 2012

Contact: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

Industrial Laundry in Lebanon, N.H. Faces Fine for Clean Water Violations

(Boston, Mass. – Aug. 28, 2012) – An industrial laundry facility in Lebanon, N.H. faces a penalty of $64,000 from the US Environmental Protection Agency for several violations of federal water laws, including discharging water containing detergent to the city’s public wastewater system which caused excessive foaming in the Connecticut River.

According to a complaint filed recently by EPA’s New England office, UniFirst Corp. discharged wastewater containing industrial grade detergent into the public wastewater system in Nov. 2010 and failed to immediately notify the city of the discharge.  Both actions violated the Clean Water Act. The complaint also details that in 2011 UniFirst discharged wastewater with a high acidity, also in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

UniFirst operates an on-site wastewater treatment system that introduces process wastewater into the City of Lebanon’s system, which in turn discharges treated wastewaters into the Connecticut River.  The detergent violations caused the city to be out of compliance with its own National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit regulating its wastewater system.

Discharges of ­­prohibited effluents from industrial users can present a risk to nearby waters and aquatic life. An industrial user’s failure to immediately notify the local wastewater treatment system and any other applicable state or federal emergency responders undermines their ability to promptly respond to a potential threat.

More information on enforcement of Clean Water Act in New England http://www.epa.gov/region1/enforcement/water/index.html

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Columbia N.H. Sand & Gravel Facility Faces Fine for Discharging Polluted Water

News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
March 27, 2012

Contacts: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

Columbia N.H. Sand and Gravel Facility Faces Fine for Discharging Polluted Water

(Boston, Mass. – March 27, 2012) – CSG Holdings, Inc. of Columbia, N.H. faces a possible fine of up to $532,500 from EPA for allowing polluted stormwater and process water from its Columbia facility to flow into nearby waters, in violation of the Clean Water Act.  CSG Holdings is the former operator of Columbia Sand and Gravel, a mining facility on the banks of the Connecticut River.

According to allegations in the complaint, CSG Holdings discharged process waste waters and stormwater from the facility without proper permits and violated the federal Oil Pollution Prevention Regulations by failing to prepare and implement a Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Plan. The recent complaint against CSG Holdings states that the violations were discovered by EPA’s New England office in 2010.

Stormwater monitoring by CSG Holdings confirmed that stormwater discharges from its sand and gravel mining and aggregate processing operations contain total suspended solids at levels that exceed permit benchmarks for their industrial sector.  When a facility's stormwater discharges exceed benchmark levels, the facility must review its stormwater control measures to determine if changes are necessary and make these changes as needed.

The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of process waste waters without a permit. The law also requires that industrial facilities, such as sand and gravel facilities, have controls in place to minimize pollutants from being discharged with stormwater into nearby waterways. Each site must have a stormwater pollution prevention plan that sets guidelines and best management practices that the company will follow to prevent runoff from being contaminated by pollutants. Without on-site controls, runoff from sand and gravel facilities can flow directly to the nearest waterway and can cause water quality impairments such as siltation of rivers, beach closings, fishing restrictions, and habitat degradation. As stormwater flows over these sites, it can pick up pollutants, including sediment, used oil, and other debris. Polluted process water discharges or stormwater runoff can harm or kill fish and wildlife and can affect drinking water quality.

Every year, thousands of gallons of oil are spilled from oil storage facilities, polluting New England waters. Even the  effects of smaller spills add up and damage aquatic life, as well as public and private property. Spill prevention plans are critical to prevent such spills or, if they do occur, adequately address them.

In May 2011, CSG Holdings sold its Columbia, N.H. facility to another owner/operator. The new owner maintains the facility’s stormwater management system and is authorized to discharge stormwater under a general permit covering discharges from industrial facilities.


More information: Stormwater control for Industrial facilities (http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/indust.cfm)

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EPA Orders Louisiana Poultry Farms to Stop Discharging

News release from EPA Region 6:

EPA Orders Louisiana Poultry Farms to Stop Discharging

(DALLAS – February 10, 2012) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued cease and desist administrative orders to two chicken broiler facilities in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, for discharging chicken litter into a tributary of the Dugdemona River.

The Mike Reeves 1 and Beaver Creek Farm chicken broiler facilities are concentrated animal feeding operations located approximately four miles east of Arcadia on the south side of U.S. Highway 80, Lincoln Parish. The broiler facilities have been ordered to immediately stop all discharges of pollutants into waters of the United States.

“We expect poultry farms to put food on our tables, not waste into our rivers,” said EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz. “Owners and operators of animal feeding operations have a responsibility to comply with the law.”

On January 24 and 25, 2012, the EPA inspected the facilities and found unauthorized discharges of pollutants from chicken litter storage piles to an unnamed tributary of the Dugdemona River.

As a result of the inspection, the owners and operators of the Mike Reeves 1 and Beaver Creek Farm chicken broiler facilities have been ordered to immediately take action to stop all discharges of pollutants from their facilities’ chicken litter storage piles. Within 30 days they must submit to EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) a certified summary, including photographs, that document the unauthorized discharges have been stopped.

More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html

EPA audio file is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/feb2012.html

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