EPA Region 5 enforcement highlights: nationally, FY2004 enforcement secures cleanups worth a record $4.8 billion and will stop one billion pounds of pollution CHICAGO (Nov. 15, 2004) -- EPA enforcement actions concluded in fiscal year 2004 will reduce a projected one billion pounds of pollution and require cleanups estimated to total a record $4.8 billion significant increases from last year. Almost every other annual measure of the Agency's enforcement and compliance activity such as the number of inspections (up 11 percent from FY 2003) and investigations (up 32 percent from FY 2003) surpassed or kept pace with previous years, indicating continued progress in deterring violations of the nation's environmental laws and reflecting an emphasis on environmental benefits and compliance. "EPA's enforcement strategy is focused on what matters most: achieving real environmental improvements that benefit everyone," said Tom Skinner, EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "We are getting significant, real-world pollution reductions through mechanisms like injunctive relief pushing companies to install more effective pollution controls - and supplemental environmental projects, which improve the environment and public health both nationwide and close to home." Highlights of cases in Region 5 Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin include: Ace Ethanol, Wisconsin
EPA and U.S. Department of Justice settled a case against Ace Ethanol in December 2003 for alleged violations of the Prevention of Significant Deterioration provisions of the Clean Air Act, as well as other sections of the act, such as the New Source Performance Standards and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. Ace's ethanol dry mill processes corn into ethanol. This facility is one of 75 ethanol plants in the United States. Ace is required to install a thermal oxidizer to achieve 95 percent destruction of volatile organic compounds. The oxidizer will also reduce particulate matter and carbon monoxide. Compliance with NSPS and NESHAPs will also be required, along with appropriate compliance testing, monitoring and record-keeping. The estimated cost of these compliance measures is over $1 million. Ace agreed to pay a $337,609 civil penalty to the state of Wisconsin. RT Automotive, Michigan
George C. Singleton of Clinton, Mich., owner of RT Automotive, was sentenced in February 2004 to serve 37 months in prison and pay $84,000 in restitution for illegal disposal of paint wastes containing flammable materials. He was previously convicted of conspiring to violate the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and on three counts of violating RCRA. In 1998, the defendant entered into an agreement with an auto salvage yard to dispose of approximately 70 drums of paint wastes containing ignitable materials. In August 1998, Singleton directed the illegal disposal of the wastes, which were placed in an abandoned trailer in an open field in Van Buren Township, Mich. Two police officers and four firefighters required medical evaluation because of exposure to fumes after approaching the trailer. Crown E.G Inc., Indiana
Crown E.G. Inc., an environmental consulting firm that supervised the wastewater treatment facility at the Guide Corp. automotive signal manufacturing facility in Anderson, Ind., pleaded guilty and was sentenced on June 29, 2004, in Indianapolis for negligently violating the Clean Water Act. Crown will pay a $100,000 fine, serve five years probation and develop a comprehensive environmental compliance and education program. In September 1999, Guide Corp. closed an electro-plating facility at its Anderson plant and sent electroplating chemicals and wastes to its on-site facility for treatment, where large quantities of treatment chemicals were added under Crown's supervision. In December 1999, approximately 1.6 million gallons of water contaminated with the by-products of the treatment chemicals was discharged into the Anderson sewer system, which ultimately discharges into the White River, killing approximately 100 tons of fish. David Van Dyke, Indiana
David Van Dyke, who was the certified operator of the Warsaw, Ind., Wastewater Treatment Plant, was sentenced on Nov. 18, 2003, to serve 46 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for his conviction on three counts of violating the Clean Water Act. The Warsaw Wastewater Treatment Plant discharges into Walnut Creek, a tributary of the Tippecanoe River. Van Dyke altered and falsified a lab report submitted to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. He also falsified records of the sewage plant's weekly limit for carbonaceous biological oxygen demand, ammonia, total suspended solids and E. coli bacteria. Rather than pay for sludge disposal, the defendant ordered that sludge be recirculated within the plant. This killed the plant's biological treatment system, leading to the release of untreated sewage into the creek, which killed thousands of fish in Walnut Creek between late July and early August 2002. Approximately 22,000 cubic yards of sewage sludge remains in Walnut Creek as a result of the improper operation of the facility. In addition to the record environmental benefit and cleanup figures resulting from Agency actions during FY 2004, EPA estimates that 3.4 million cubic yards of contaminated soil and sediment and 9.5 million cubic yards of groundwater will be cleaned up, 1,300 acres of wetlands will be protected, and the drinking water of 4 million Americans will comply with EPA standards. Of the 4,257 cases concluded by EPA in FY 2004, 83 percent resulted in actions to bring facilities into compliance with environmental laws. More information about EPA's enforcement program is available online at www.epa.gov/compliance/planning/results/press/2004eoy/ # # # |