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EPA Waives $539,653 in Penalties After Six Companies in Pennsylvania and Virginia Self-Disclose Environmental Violations

Release Date: 4/25/2002
Contact Information: Donna Heron, (215) 814-5113

Donna Heron, (215) 814-5113

PHILADELPHIA – Six companies in Pennsylvania and Virginia have saved $539,653 in penalties by voluntarily reporting and correcting their own environmental violations.

In making the announcement, Regional Administrator Donald S. Welsh said that EPA regularly collects substantial penalties from businesses for violations similar to those reported by these six companies.

“Companies that voluntarily report and rectify environmental violations help protect the environment, as well as their bottom line. EPA will continue to make appropriate penalty adjustments for companies that voluntarily police their own regulatory compliance,” Welsh said.

Penalties are being waived for the following companies:

*Allied Signal, Inc., reported 17 violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act. The violations involved the failure to submit required annual inventory reports in 1993 for toxic substances used or stored at the Smethport and Emlenton, Pa. facilities of subsidiary Astor Corporation. EPA waived a potential penalty of $289,000.

* Handy & Harman Tube Co., Inc., of Norristown, Pa. self-disclosed violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) – the federal law designed to protect public health and the environment from accidental releases of hazardous and toxic chemicals. The company failed to submit annual reports of releases of hydrogen fluoride and nitric acid releases in 1999, and disclosed data quality errors in its reports of releases of trichloroethylene, nitric acid, and hydrogen fluoride from 1997 through 1999. Penalty waiver: $48,122.

* Rocco Poultry Operations, Inc. reported that its own environmental compliance audit discovered that it failed to submit EPCRA notices for nitrate compounds released at its Edinburgh, Va., facility from 1995 through 1999. Penalty waiver: $126,621.

* Virginia Gas Pipeline Co. disclosed violations of EPCRA rules requiring companies to notify state and local emergency response agencies about hazardous chemicals stored at their facilities. VGPC disclosed a failure to submit required reports for 1996 through 2000 for ethylene glycol at its Saltville, Va. facility. Penalty waiver: $46,750.

* Virginia Gas Storage Co. disclosed a failure to notify state and local emergency response agencies of ethylene glycol and methanol at its Bristol, Va. facility for 1999 and 2000 as required under EPCRA rules. Penalty waiver: $26,250.

* Colorcon, a division of Berwind Pharmaceutical Services Inc., disclosed Clean Water Act monitoring violations at its plant in West Point, Pa. Penalty waiver: $2,910.

EPA determined that these companies qualified for penalty waivers under the agency’s audit policy. The policy substantially reduces, and often eliminates, penalties for violations discovered and corrected by a company. The policy does not cover criminal violations, or violations resulting in significant harm to public health or the environment. EPA will also not waive penalties covering any economic benefit created by past violations.

These are among the first six audit disclosures resolved by Region III in 2002. During 2001, 18 companies in EPA’s mid-Atlantic region disclosed environmental violations, and EPA reduced or waived $350,900 in penalties under the audit policy.

EPA’s audit policy is posted at www.epa.gov/oeca/auditpol.html. For more information on environmental audits and compliance assistance, visit www.epa.gov/reg3ecej.