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U.S. EPA FINES INTERIOR DEPARTMENT FOR VIOLATING WASTE LAW

Release Date: 8/29/1995
Contact Information: Arnold Robbins, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1486

   (San Francisco) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) today announced that it is proposing a $266,025 penalty against the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) for illegal storage of hazardous waste at its Yuma Desalting Plant in Yuma, Ariz.  

     "The U.S. EPA is committed to working with facilities to achieve compliance with environmental regulations to assure protection of human health and the environment," said Laura Yoshii, U.S. EPA's deputy director of the hazardous waste management division.

      DOI was cited for storing hazardous waste without a permit between December 1991 and March 1995, in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recover Act (RCRA). DOI was storing more than 60 containers of lead, trichloroethane, xylene, toluene, and trichloroethylene.

      The facility is being ordered to remove all the containers to an authorized hazardous waste storage facility within three months. DOI must also submit a plan ensuring that all hazardous waste is moved off site shortly after it is created.
 
     This is the first Region 9 enforcement action taken against the U.S. Department of Interior under the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992.

     The facility removes salt from the Colorado River to lower the salinity of the river before it flows into Mexico.

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