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Vermont Company Agrees to $20,815 Penalty for Chemical Reporting Violations

Release Date: 07/15/2002
Contact Information: Andrew Spejewski, EPA Press Office, 617-918-1014

BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that the Mack Group, of Arlington, Vermont, has agreed to pay a $20,815 fine for failing to report its use of a toxic chemical at its Arlington facility.

"The chemical use reporting requirements are central to EPA's efforts to manage pollution and provide communities and citizens with important right-to-know information about facilities in their area," said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator for EPA's New England Office. "I am pleased that the Mack Group moved quickly to come into compliance and settle this matter."

The federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act requires facilities that use above a threshold amount of certain listed toxic chemicals to annually report on their use and emissions to the EPA. The Arlington facility (operated by Mack Molding Company, a division of the Mack Group) did not file reports for 1999 or 2000, though using decabromodiphenyl oxide in amounts above the threshold for the chemical, which is 25,000 pounds per year. This violation did not cause a release of a toxic chemical to the environment.

The violating facility manufactures plastic enclosures (shower stall bases, battery enclosures, etc.), and employs 200 employees with annual sales of $38 million. The Mack Group, Inc. has over 1800 employees with annual sales of over $400 million.