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Cranston R.I. Company to Pay Fine for Chemical Reporting Violations

Release Date: 09/22/2011
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – Sept. 22, 2011) – A chemical processing facility in Cranston, R.I., has agreed to pay a penalty of $23,400 to settle claims by the US Environmental Protection Agency that the company failed to appropriately report chemicals used on site in violation of federal right-to-know laws.

According to EPA’s New England office, John R. Hess & Company failed to file Toxic Chemical Release Inventory Forms listing chemicals processed, manufactured or used at its facility at 400 Station St. The inventory forms are required by the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA). The alleged violations took place in the year 2008 and 2009. The agreement stems from an EPA inspection of the Hess facility in 2010.

According to the EPA complaint, Hess processed more than the established thresholds of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, ethylene glycol, and other regulated chemicals, but did not report these chemicals during the time period required. Hess submitted these forms after the due dates, resulting in five violations of EPCRA.

Failure of a facility to file TRI forms deprives the community of its right to know about the chemicals present in a neighborhood. This enforcement action is expected to encourage better compliance with EPCRA reporting requirements and to ensure that the community is not deprived of its right to know about chemicals being processed, manufactured, or otherwise used in the neighborhood. The required information also protects the validity of health studies based on the TRI database and helps federal, state, and local authorities plan for cleaning up industrial pollution.

More information: EPCRA enforcement in New England (https://www.epa.gov/region1/enforcement/epcra/index.html)

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