When many people think of industrial chemicals, they think of those scary-looking yellow drums, containing unknown but almost certainly hazardous goo. A new industry initiative, though hopes to change that by giving consumers more information on the chemicals they use every day.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that a chemical distributor in Roanoke, Va., has agreed to pay a $43,967 penalty and complete more than $200,000 in safety improvements to settle alleged violations of federal environmental laws designed to protect and inform the public about hazardous chemicals.
In a settlement valued at more than $1.7 million, Clean Harbors of Braintree Inc. has agreed to pay a significant penalty and perform additional projects, to settle a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of EPA, regarding numerous violations of hazardous waste management and emergency planning laws at the company’s Braintree, Mass., facility.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Dow Chemical Company has agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) at its chemical manufacturing and research complex in Midland, Mich.
Over the past six years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has plugged close to 300 abandoned – and in some cases leaking – oil wells in Western New York in an effort to prevent any remaining oil that may be in the wells from reaching nearby lakes, rivers and streams.
U.S. District Court Judge Adalberto Jordan sentenced Brendan Clery, 34, to 18 months in prison and ordered him to pay a $10,000 criminal fine and forfeit illegal proceeds in the amount of $935,240.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement with Caterpillar Inc. to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations for shipping more than 590,000 highway and non-road diesel engines without the correct emissions controls.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed standards to reduce harmful air pollution from oil and gas drilling operations.
Senior energy executive Karl W. Miller is a major supporter in establishing a comprehensive energy plan for the U.S.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded a $300,000 environmental workforce development and job training grant to Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) to promote green jobs in Santa Fe, N.M.
Tanner industries, which distributes ammonia, has agreed to install and operate $345,000 in ammonia leak detection systems at 14 facilities across the country to settle claims by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it violated federal clean air regulations on chemical risk management at plants in Rhode Island and Michigan.
Tenaris Global Services Corp., a manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products for the oil and energy industry, has agreed to pay $717,324 of civil penalties to the United States to settle violations of environmental regulations at seven facilities related to the public reporting of toxic chemicals at its facilities in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.
A Northbridge, Mass., company that produces hard foam products has agreed to strictly limit air pollution emissions from its manufacturing facility and pay a $127,500 penalty to settle claims by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice that it violated federal Clean Air laws.
New Jersey has seen an unjust share of environmental damage, and EPA and DOJ join forces to do something about it.
Companies in Massachusetts and Vermont company that store significant amounts of oil are facing EPA penalties of up to $177,500 for failing to take adequate precautions to prevent and contain spillage of that oil.
Freedman Farms Inc. and its president, William B. Freedman, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in New Bern, N.C., to violating the Clean Water Act when they discharged hog waste into a stream that leads to the Waccamaw River, the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined TMW Corporation $100,000, for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act discovered at the company’s facility, Crown Chrome Plating, a division of TMW Corporation, during an inspection conducted by EPA in April 2009.
Bobby Joe Knapp, of West Des Moines, Iowa, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge James E. Gritzner to 41 months in prison for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act.
The metal recycling company was also ordered to pay restitution of $104,989 and a $130,000 fine.
<p>The owner and manager of a California condominium complex were sentenced for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act’s asbestos work practice standards during the renovation of a 204-unit apartment building in Winnetka, Calif., in 2006 – work that caused asbestos to be released into the complex and the surrounding community. </p><p>
Charles Yi, of Santa Clarita, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson to four years in prison. John Bostick, also of Santa Clarita, was sentenced to six months home confinement, 150 hours of community service, and three years probation. Yi was convicted after a two-week trial in March 2011 when a jury found him guilty of five felony offenses, including conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act. Bostick pleaded guilty in February 2011 to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. </p><p>
The jury also convicted Yi of failing to notify the Environmental Protection Agency and the South Coast Air Quality Management District about a renovation containing asbestos, failing to provide a properly trained person during a renovation containing asbestos, failing to properly remove asbestos and failing to properly dispose of asbestos wastes.
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Yi was the owner of the now-defunct Millennium-Pacific Icon Group and Bostick was its vice-president. Millennium-Pacific owned the Forest Glen apartment complex in Winnetka that was being converted into condominiums in 2006. Knowing that asbestos was present in the ceilings of apartments in the Forest Glen complex, Yi, Bostick, and the project manager, Joseph Yoon, hired workers who were not trained or certified to conduct asbestos abatements. The workers scraped the ceilings of the apartments without knowing about the asbestos and without wearing any protective gear. The illegal scraping resulted in the repeated release of asbestos-containing material throughout the apartment complex and the surrounding area because Santa Ana winds were blowing during the time of the illegal work. After the illegal asbestos abatement was shut down by an inspector from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the asbestos was cleaned up at a cost of approximately $1.2 million. Yoon pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in June 2010 and is scheduled to be sentenced in July. </p><p>
The federal Clean Air Act requires those who own or supervise the renovation of buildings that contain asbestos to adhere to certain established work practice standards. These standards were created to ensure the safe removal and disposal of the asbestos and the protection of workers.
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