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BREWER ENVIRONMENTAL INDUSTRIES IN HAWAII TO PAY $236,000

Release Date: 9/26/2001
Contact Information: Mike Ardito, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-2328

     SAN FRANCISCO   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced Brewer Environmental Industries in Hawaii will pay nearly $236,000 for alleged violations resulting from its 1999 sulfuric acid spill on Oahu and facility inspections last year in Maui, Kauai, and Hilo.

     BEI agreed to pay $98,796 to the EPA as the civil penalty for nine alleged violations.  Also, BEI agreed to provide supplemental projects of at least $137,000 for equipment to be donated to the county fire departments in Honolulu, Kauai, Maui and Hawaii (Big Island).  Without the donation of equipment to the fire departments, BEI would be required to pay a $205,000 cash penalty to the EPA.

     The nine EPA citations included one for untimely reporting of the sulfuric acid spill at its Campbell Industrial Park, Oahu site on Nov. 25, 1999; two citations for failure to submit adequate risk management plans as required under the Clean Air Act; and six violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.

     In settling this case, the EPA considered BEI's progress in making facility improvements, reducing risks such as eliminating certain toxic chemicals from its inventory or processes, improving facility equipment and providing more training for employees.

     "It is important for a facility to disclose information about the release and storage of its  hazardous substances so emergency responders and the general public can be properly protected," said Keith Takata, director of the EPA's Pacific Southwest regional Superfund program.  "One of the positive notes of this settlement is that the four county fire departments in Hawaii will receive much- needed equipment to enhance their capabilities for response to hazardous materials incidents."

     EPA alleges that BEI failed to immediately notify the National Response Center on Nov. 25, 1999 regarding the release of a reportable quantity of a hazardous substance, sulfuric acid, as required by the Superfund law.  Approximately 70,000 pounds of sulfuric acid were released into the environment due to the corrosion of a blind flange on the underside of a 300-ton acid storage tank at the BEI facility located in Campbell Industrial Park.

     Even though the facility had knowledge of the sulfuric acid release by 1:30 p.m. that day (Hawaii Standard Time), the required notification to the NRC was reportedly not made until 12:43 a..m. HST on Nov. 26.

      Under the federal EPCRA law, a facility is required to make timely notification to state and local emergency responders of an accidental release of a hazardous substance in a reportable quantity.  The Hawaii Department of Health, under its own authorities, collected a $7,000 civil penalty from BEI on Jan. 7, 2000 for the CIP facility's late notification to the state of that sulfuric acid spill.

     The chemical risk management plan for each applicable facility required by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 must include an analysis of the worst-case release scenario for each regulated toxic substance held above a specified quantity.  The worst-case scenario analysis for the BEI facility at Port Allen, Kauai did not properly address the risk posed by the amount of anhydrous ammonia stored at that location.  Likewise, the BEI facility in Hilo did not accurately provide a worst-case scenario analysis for the amount of chlorine usually stored on site.

     The six violations under EPCRA were allegedly for failure to accurately list all of the hazardous chemicals stored (such as mosquito larvicide, ammonium phosphate fertilizer or Urea-based fertilizer) at BEI's facilities in Hilo, Hawaii; Puhi, Kauai; and Waikapu, Maui.  The EPA's facility inspections of BEI in Kauai, Maui and Hilo were conducted in March 2000 with assistance of inspectors from the Hawaii DOH and the local fire departments.

     The equipment, to be purchased by BEI under the settlement agreement, was selected in consultation with each of the county fire departments regarding their priority needs.  The City and County of Honolulu Fire Department will receive an estimated $11,500 in equipment for such items as a tank patch kit.  Estimated costs of equipment for the other counties are as follows:  Kauai County $26,500; Maui County $29,500; and Hawaii County $69,500.  Among other items, the county fire departments in Kauai, Maui and Hawaii are each expected to receive thermal imaging devices to be used by hazmat teams for determining volumes in tanks, seeing through smoke, and locating plume dispersions.
 
      The Hawaii County Fire Department will also receive personal protective equipment and other items to be pre-deployed in Kona.  This will enable a faster response by Hilo hazmat responders who are authorized to fly to Kona in emergencies.  The protective equipment will include splash suits, air tanks and respirators.
 
      This environmental enforcement complaint from the EPA and the consent agreement with BEI for these alleged violations was signed on Sept. 25, 2001.