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PHOENIX TO PAY $198,532 IN FINES, SPEND $401,468 TO SETTLE WITH EPA FOR CHEMICAL SPILL

Release Date: 6/19/2002
Contact Information: Leo Kay, U.S. EPA, 415/947-4306

     City Will Pay for Emergency Response Trucks for Salt River, Fort McDowell Yavapai tribes

     SAN FRANCISCO   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice today fined the city of Phoenix $198,532 for numerous hazardous waste and water violations at its drinking water facilities on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.

     The city will pay a $198,532 penalty and spend $401,468 to purchase an emergency response vehicle for each of the tribal communities affected by the violations..  

     The city of Phoenix, who owns and operates the Verde Treatment Plant, stored corrosive, hazardous waste without a permit.  The city mistakenly combined ferric chloride and sulfuric acid-- two incompatible acids -- and moved the toxic mixture to an above-ground tank.  The 63,000 gallons of chromium and cadmium contaminated hazardous waste was stored for over a year, exceeding the allowable 90 days.

     The city also failed to immediately notify the National Response Center after it released approximately 14,000 gallons of the highly toxic mixture into tributaries of the Verde and Salt rivers.  The release occured in August of 1996 and was not reported to the NRC until September 1997 more than 13 months after the release.

     "This settlement ensures that the city of Phoenix will operate its treatment facility in an environmentally responsible manner and goes beyond simply correcting violations and paying a penalty," said Wayne Nastri, the EPA's regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest.  "It's designed to protect and improve the environment and public health and addresses the needs of the affected communities by  providing valuable emergency equipment to both tribes."

     Each community will receive an emergency response vehicle designed to provide air for breathing apparatus used in fire fighting and confined space operations, and provides light for area illumination.  The trucks carry breathing air compressors and spare bottles for self-contained breathing apparratus and the trucks will be custom built to specifications provided by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.    

    The Verde Treatment Plant and water distribution lines are located at the confluence of the Verde and Salt rivers, and the facilities are connected to the Phoenix public water system outside of Indian Country by a main transmission line.