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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Martin Operating Partnership in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, Fined for Violating the Clean Water Act

Press release:

Martin Operating Partnership in Cameron Parish, Louisiana,

Fined for Violating the Clean Water Act

(DALLAS – August 2, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fined Martin Operating Partnership in Cameron, Louisiana, $14,400 for violating federal Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations outlined under the Clean Water Act.

A February 28, 2012, federal inspection of the partnership’s Cameron 7 Terminal located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, revealed the facility failed to properly manage retained stormwater from inside diked areas and failed to keep the diked area rainwater bypass valve in a closed and sealed position. The inspection also found the terminal’s SPCC plan failed to provide an adequate schedule for tank integrity testing, and the required facility diagram failed to list all oil tankage at the terminal.

SPCC regulations require onshore oil production and bulk storage facilities to provide oil spill prevention, control and countermeasures to prevent oil discharges. The SPCC program helps protect our nation’s water quality since a spill of only one gallon of oil can contaminate one million gallons of water.

Additional information on SPCC regulations is available at: http://www.epa.gov/oilspill

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

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Press release:

EPA fine particulate proposal not grounded in sound science

Carlton Carroll | 202.682.8114 | carrollc@api.orgShareThis

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2012 – API Director of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Howard Feldman told an EPA hearing in Philadelphia today that the agency’s scientific analysis for its proposal on fine particulate air standards was inadequate and could not justify tightening them. He said continued implementation of the existing standards would further improve air quality:

“EPA has not proven a ‘cause and effect’ between PM 2.5 below the current standards and health effects…. Taken as a whole, the scientific studies cut in different directions…. There is no need to move the goalposts now.

“I am encouraged by the progress our nation has made in reducing fine particle emissions in our skies. The concentration of PM2.5 in the nation’s air has declined by 24 percent between 2001 and 2010. The U.S. oil and natural gas industry has significantly contributed to these improvements by developing and manufacturing ultra-clean fuels that can be used in the new very low emission diesel and gasoline engines.

“More good news is that the improvements will continue…. When announcing this proposal, EPA stated that it has issued a number of rules already that will continue to make significant strides toward reducing fine particle emissions in the years ahead. These future improvements are independent of whether any action is taken to change these standards.”

API represents more than 500 companies involved in all aspects of the oil and natural gas industry, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America’s energy, supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers more than $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested more than $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.

Mid-America Pipeline Company LLC, Enterprise Products Operating LLC to Pay $1M for Spills in Iowa, Kan., Neb.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7

901 N. Fifth St., Kansas City, KS 66101

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

Mid-America Pipeline Company LLC, Enterprise Products Operating LLC to Pay $1M for Spills in Iowa, Kan., Neb. 

Contact Information: Chris Whitley, 913-551-7433, whitley.christopher@epa.gov

Environmental News 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., May 29, 2012) - Mid-America Pipeline Company, LLC (MAPCO), and Enterprise Products Operating LLC (Enterprise), of Houston, Texas, have agreed to pay a civil penalty of more than $1 million to the United States to settle violations of the federal Clean Water Act related to three natural gasoline pipeline spills in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.

As part of a consent decree lodged today in U.S. District Court in Omaha, Neb., and in addition to paying the $1,042,000 civil penalty, the companies have agreed to undertake various measures aimed at reducing external threats to their pipeline, enhance their reporting of spills, and spend at least $200,000 to identify and prevent external threats to the pipeline involved in the spills.

MAPCO owns and Enterprise operates the 2,769-mile West Red Pipeline, which transports mixed natural gasoline products between Conway, Kan., and Pine Bend, Minn. The settlement resolves Clean Water Act violations related to three spills that occurred along the pipeline:

• A March 29, 2007, rupture near Yutan, Neb., which caused the discharge of approximately 1,669 barrels of natural gasoline directly into an unnamed ditch and Otoe Creek.
• An April 23, 2010, rupture near Niles, Kan., which caused the discharge of approximately 1,760 barrels of natural gasoline directly into an unnamed ditch, Cole Creek, Buckeye Creek and the Solomon River.
• An August 13, 2011, rupture near Onawa, Iowa, which caused the discharge of approximately 818 barrels of natural gasoline directly into the Missouri River.

“More than 20,000 miles of pipeline, carrying oil and petroleum products, cross the states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska in EPA’s Region 7,” EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks said. “A frequent cause of pipeline breaks is the action of third parties during farming and excavation. This settlement requires the defendants to honor a schedule of pipeline inspections on the ground and from the air, and reach out to local agencies, contractors and excavators to make sure they are more fully aware of pipeline locations and depths.”

“This settlement requires proactive vigilance to ensure that our soil and waterways are protected from contaminants,” said Deborah R. Gilg, U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska. “The agreement will result in safer pipeline operations and that will be good for Nebraska’s environment.”

In addition to the proactive inspections and outreach efforts, the settlement also requires MAPCO and Enterprise to spend $200,000 to relocate, cover, lower or replace pipeline segments; install new remote shutoff valves; install new physical protections such as fences or concrete barriers; and install other new equipment, structures or systems to prevent spills from reaching navigable waters.

The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval.

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Companies Fined for Failing to Notify Tenants About Lead Paint at Two Navy Bases in New England

News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
May 1, 2012

Contacts: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

Companies Fined for Failing to Notify Tenants About Lead Paint at Two Navy Bases in New England

(Boston, Mass. – May 1, 2012) – Two companies have agreed to pay a penalty of $89,300 to settle EPA claims that they violated federal lead paint disclosure laws at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine and the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn.

In a recent EPA enforcement complaint, EPA alleged that Northeast Housing, LLC, and Balfour Beatty Military Housing Management, LLC failed on multiple occasions to notify prospective tenants, including families with young children, about potential lead paint hazards in housing managed by the companies on the two Navy bases in New England.  Specifically, the companies failed to comply with the Lead Based Paint Disclosure Rule when they entered into contracts to lease housing with military personnel during the years 2007-2010 by failing to provide available records and reports regarding lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards to 13 lessees (10 lessees at Portsmouth and three lessees at the Conn. base).  Nine of the lessees were families with children, including seven families with children under the age of six.

Notifying prospective tenants of housing units helps parents protect young children from exposure to lead-based paint hazards.  Infants and young children are especially vulnerable to lead paint exposure, which can cause intelligence quotient deficiencies, reading and learning disabilities, impaired hearing, reduced attention span, hyperactivity, and behavior problems. Adults with high lead levels can suffer difficulties during pregnancy, high blood pressure, nerve disorders, memory problems, and muscle and joint pain.

Many homes built before 1978 have lead-based paint. The federal government banned lead-based paint from housing in 1978. The purpose of the Lead Disclosure Rule is to provide residential renters and purchasers of pre-1978 housing with enough information about lead-based paint in general and known lead-based paint hazards in specific housing, so that they can make informed decisions about whether to lease or purchase the housing.

The housing at both bases is owned by Northeast, a joint venture limited liability company between the Department of the Navy and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Balfour Beatty Communities, LLC, of which the BBC affiliate is the managing member.  There are approximately 25 pre-1978 housing units located at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where housing was built in the 1800s and early 1900s.  There are approximately 735 pre-1978 housing units at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton which were built in the early 1960s.

Northeast Housing and Balfour Beatty Military Housing Management cooperated with EPA in promptly correcting the violations and in reaching a quick settlement.


More information on lead hazards and lead disclosure rule: http://epa.gov/lead/pubs/leadinfo.htm

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Logan Airport Oil Storage Facility Operators Fined for Inadequate Oil Spill Training

News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
March 28, 2012
Contact: Paula Ballentine, (617) 918-1027

Logan Airport Oil Storage Facility Operators Fined for Inadequate Oil Spill Training

(Boston, Mass. – Mar. 28, 2012) – BOSFuel Corp. and Swissport Fueling, Inc., operators of an oil storage facility at Boston’s Logan Airport, will pay a $90,000 penalty for failing to take adequate precaution to contain oil spills.  The Logan facility is operated by BOSFuel, a consortium of major airlines, and has an oil storage capacity of over seven million gallons. Swissport Fueling operates the facility on a day-to-day basis.

In a Sept. 2011 complaint, EPA asserted that the companies had not properly prepared for possible oil spills at the Logan facility in violation of federal oil pollution prevention regulations issued under the Clean Water Act.  These Facility Response Plan (FRP) regulations require certain facilities, such as the one at Logan, to have a response plan for containing and cleaning up an oil release.


EPA’s action stemmed from a May 2011 unannounced exercise at the facility carried out by EPA, the Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection (Mass DEP) and the U.S. Coast Guard. The objective of this exercise - a simulated oil spill - was to determine whether a facility can successfully respond to an oil release.  As a result of the exercise, EPA determined that the companies were unable to properly implement the facility’s FRP and its personnel were not adequately trained, resulting in an “unsuccessful” overall rating for the exercise. 


Since EPA filed its action, the companies have worked cooperatively with EPA, as well as the USCG and Mass DEP to correct the deficiencies noted during the exercise.

Federal law requires that facilities that have the potential for spills take every step possible to prevent, before they occur, oil discharges to the nation’s rivers, lakes and oceans through implementation of Spill Prevention Control & Countermeasure (SPCC) plans.  Any facility with more than 1,320 gallons of above-ground oil storage capacity and meeting certain other criteria must develop and implement SPCC plans to prevent and contain spills, such as by installing impervious secondary containment around storage tanks and transfer areas.  Facilities also need to know how to react to a spill to minimize environmental damage when one does occur.  The FRP regulations require response planning and spill preparation especially for facilities with more than one million gallons of storage capacity. To ensure that a facility can adequately response to a spill, it must have adequate employee training, spill response equipment, and a contingency plan for containing and cleaning up a release.

While EPA’s action against the Logan Airport oil storage operators is not based on an actual oil release but on the unsuccessful May 2011 unannounced exercise, other facilities should be aware that EPA will continue to pay unannounced visits to conduct simulated spill exercises at facilities throughout New England.


More information:
FRP Requirements (http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/frps/index.htm )
SPCC Requirements (http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/spcc/index.htm)

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Rental Co. Faces Fine for Failing to Inform Residents of Lead Paint

Rome, New York Rental Company Faces Fine for

Failing to Inform Residents about the Presence of

Lead-based Paint and its Dangers

Contact: Elias Rodriguez, (212) 637-3664, rodriguez.elias@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y. - March 16, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a complaint against CRM Rental Management, Inc. of Rome, N.Y. for not informing residents of its buildings about potential lead-based paint in their apartments. It is estimated that three-quarters of U.S. residential dwellings built before 1978 contain some lead-based paint. Infants and young children are especially vulnerable to lead-based paint exposure, which can cause IQ deficiencies, reading and learning disabilities, impaired hearing, reduced attention spans, hyperactivity and behavioral problems. CRM Rental Management faces over $140,000 in potential fines for 43 instances in which the company failed to properly inform residents of four buildings in New Hartford and Rome, New York about the potential presence of lead-based paint.

“Lead paint is a serious threat to children’s health and disclosure can arm families with information they need to protect their kids,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. "Rental agents, property managers and building owners are required to follow EPA lead paint disclosure requirements and make sure people are aware of potential lead hazards in homes.”

Lead poisoning remains one of the most prevalent threats to children's well-being but it is also one of the most preventable. Under federal law, families have the right to know whether there are any potential lead-paint hazards in a prospective home, and must be informed about the harm lead can inflict on small children. Pregnant women and children younger than age six are among the most vulnerable to adverse health risks from lead-based paint.

EPA regulations require real estate management companies and property owners that sell or rent housing built before 1978 to provide renters or buyers with a form that contains a warning about the dangers of lead-based paint and discloses information about its presence. People renting or buying an apartment or home must verify that they received the required warning and disclosure information, including the EPA pamphlet, Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home. Prospective purchasers have a 10-day opportunity to assess the property for risks for the presence of lead-based paint.

The complaint against CRM Rental Management alleges that the company failed to provide residents with lead-based paint warning and disclosure statements, making them aware of records or reports that would alert them to potential lead-based paint hazards, and secure required signatures verifying that the required information was received.

In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Centers for Disease Control, EPA operates the National Lead Information Center, including a toll-free hotline that can be reached at 1-800-424-LEAD (5323).

For more information on lead and the risks posed by lead paint, visit: http://www.epa.gov/lead.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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