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Company Settles with EPA on Charges It Incorrectly Stored PCBs

Release Date: 08/27/2001
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(#01106) Kearny, New Jersey -- G&S Motor Equipment Company, Inc., a recycler of metal from electrical equipment located at 1800 Harrison Avenue in Kearny, New Jersey, has settled with EPA on charges it incorrectly stored and failed to properly label drums of waste oil containing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. The company will pay a penalty of $19,000 . According to G&S, it received PCB-contaminated electrical transformers for dismantling and metal recovery that had been drained of most of their fluid, but that still contained some leftover PCB-contaminated oil. G&S removed this oil and stored it in a 500-gallon polyethylene (a type of plastic) tank. PCB-storage regulations require that such tanks be made of steel. The polyethylene tank noted by EPA inspectors was a recent replacement for another polyethylene tank used to store the PCB waste oil, which had melted in a fire. EPA also charged that G&S failed to properly mark six drums of PCB-contaminated waste oil with the date the material was placed in the drums. EPA alleged that these actions violated regulations of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, which banned new production of PCBs, and, because they still exist in our environment from older machinery and equipment, instituted requirements for dealing with them responsibly, including their proper transport, storage and disposal. PCBs are synthetic chemicals that were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications before it was found that they have serious ecological and human health effects. G&S records and waste shipment manifests indicated that the company was otherwise handling and disposing of PCB-contaminated materials in compliance with PCB requirements. For more information, contact Nina Habib Spencer at 212-637-3670. Diesel Truck Project in Hunts Point Bronx Receives Funding under New Grant Program A project designed to reduce diesel truck pollution in the Hunts Point area of the south Bronx has received an $250,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under a new national transportation partnership program. The funding will be used to install innovative truck stop electrification technology at the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, the world's largest wholesale food distribution center. Instead of idling for hours and, in many cases, overnight, trucks that come to the market can hook up to equipment that provides electricity, air conditioning, heating and even phone and internet services. This will be the first operational anti- idling electrification project in the country. The Hunts Point electrification project is one of ten community projects across the country chosen for $1.27 million in EPA grants to reduce pollution and enhance energy efficiency in the transportation sector. Earlier this month, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman visited the Hunts Point Market to observe the system first hand. The EPA grant was awarded to the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), which is working with community and environment groups and businesses. Once the project is complete, it will reduce harmful pollutants in the Hunts Point area by more than 2,000 tons per year. For more information, contact Mary Mears 212-637-3669. For more details on the project, contact Cindy Drucker at NESCAUM at 617-367-8540.