In an effort to protect local citizens from the dangers of hazardous waste, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently ordered Clean Harbors El Dorado, L.L.C. to pay a $581,236 penalty for improperly identifying and disposing of hazardous waste, improper storage of hazardous waste, and failure to comply with air emissions standards at its El Dorado, Ark. incineration facility.
"Environmental protection is everyone's job and companies must follow our environmental laws," said EPA Regional Administrator Ron Curry. "Communities expect company's work practices to protect lives and the environment. By enforcing the law, we do our part in protecting people where they live, work and play."
The violations were discovered as part of multiple EPA Resource Conversation and Recovery Act (RCRA) inspections in 2009 and 2011. RCRA, the federal law governing the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste, is designed to protect public health and the environment, and avoid costly cleanups, by requiring the safe, environmentally sound storage and disposal of hazardous waste.
The facility specializes in the treatment of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes by high temperature incineration. As part of its operations, Clean Harbor's generated hazardous waste that was improperly sold as a commercial substitute. Under the federal RCRA program, hazardous substances must be stored, handled and disposed of using measures that safeguard public health and the environment. This waste is no longer being sold and all wastes are now properly being disposed.
As part of the agreement, Clean Harbors has also committed to conduct an environmental project, valued at $750,000 routing hazardous emissions from hazardous waste storage tanks to the secondary combustion chamber. This will help protect the local community from harmful emissions.
