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EPA REGION 6 ANNOUNCES ENFORCEMENT RESULTS

Release Date: 9/16/1997
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

More than $3.7 million in environmental projects and penalties was assessed or negotiated during the second quarter of 1997 in Region 6, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Regional Administrator Jerry Clifford announced in Dallas today.

"Not only did EPA assess more than $2 million in penalties from these 89 enforcement cases, but we also negotiated four projects in which businesses will spend and additional $1.7 million to protect public health and the environment," Mr. Clifford said.

These projects include the first international project of this type. General Instrument Corp. of El Paso agreed to spend $135,000 for a pollution prevention project at its Juarez maquiladora. The project will remove 200,000 pounds of waste from the environment and completely eliminate wastewater generation at the Mexican plant. State-of-the-art equipment and operational changes will greatly reduce the facility's hazardous waste and air emissions.

EPA Region 6 initiated 138 legal sanctions during the same reporting period. These enforcement actions range from penalties for not reporting hazardous chemicals, thus violating Community Right to Know rules, to protecting public health by requiring municipal water treatment facilities to meet coliform bacteria standards for safe drinking water.

Inspections for compliance with underground storage tank regulations resulted in more than 40 field citations being issued. Federal regulations became effective December 22, 1988, requiring any tanks installed underground to have corrosion protection, spill and overfill prevention, and release detection systems. Owners of existing tanks were allowed 10 years, until December 22, 1998, to upgrade the tanks to meet the current standards or to remove them.

EPA estimates there are about 150,000 buried storage tanks in the five states of Region 6. Recent inspections indicate only 30 percent to 40 percent of those meet the standards.

"These tanks are the most common source of groundwater contamination. Compliance with federal and state underground tank regulations is critical if we are to protect this valuable resource," Mr. Clifford said.

EPA and state environmental agencies have increased compliance inspections to ensure that tank owners are working to meet the 1998 deadline. Generally, field citations, with penalties ranging from $50 to $300 per violation, are issued for minor violations which can be corrected in 30 to 60 days. However, if there is a history of non-compliance or the violations are numerous, substantially larger penalties are imposed.

"While EPA works hard to help facilities comply with this country's environmental laws, the Agency's mandate to protect the public health also demands that those laws be enforced," Mr. Clifford said.

Region 6 includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.