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EPA and University of Florida Sign Consent Agreement Settling Hazardous Waste Violations

Release Date: 12/28/2009
Contact Information: Davina Marraccini, (404) 562-8293, [email protected]

(ATLANTA – Dec. 28, 2009) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 4 (EPA) announced today that it has entered into a Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) with the University of Florida (UF) settling Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) violations.

UF has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $175,000. EPA observed the alleged RCRA violations during a compliance evaluation inspection in 2008, at UF’s main campus in Gainesville, Fl. The most significant violation cited in the CAFO is improper disposal of a spent cleaning solvent that contained between 20 and 30 percent tetrachloroethylene (PCE). The cleaning solvent had allegedly been used on an outdoor concrete pad to clean weed eater engines and lawn mower engines and transmissions.

Analytical results from soil samples collected near the concrete pad indicated that concentrations of PCE exceeded the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Soil Cleanup Target Level for leachability. Analytical results from a groundwater sample collected near the concrete pad indicated that the concentration of PCE exceeded the FDEP Groundwater Cleanup Target Level. Remediation of soil and groundwater is being overseen by FDEP pursuant to UF’s pre-existing RCRA permit.