The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $172,900 to resolve a Clean Air Act violation associated with the company’s failure to submit a risk management plan at its facility at 553 Old Corvallis Road in Hamilton, Montana.
Today’s agreement resolves the company’s alleged violation of the risk management provisions of the Clean Air Act, which requires facilities that store chemicals in amounts exceeding regulatory thresholds to develop and implement a risk management plan. These plans assist with emergency preparedness, chemical release prevention, and the minimization of any releases that do occur.
"Risk management plans protect communities by ensuring facilities have up-to-date procedures in place to prevent and respond to potential releases of the toxic chemicals they use,” said Suzanne Bohan, EPA’s enforcement program director in Denver. “GlaxoSmithKline has cooperated with the EPA in resolving this matter and submitted a viable plan earlier this year.”
The GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines facility in Hamilton is subject to the risk management provisions of the Clean Air Act due to its on-site quantity of chloroform, a toxic chemical, which exceeds the regulatory threshold of 20,000 pounds. The company has since corrected the violation by submitting a risk management plan for the facility in April 2014.
The establishment of effective risk management plans help companies, industries and municipalities operate responsibly, assist emergency responders by providing vital information necessary to address accidents and other incidents, protect the environment by preventing and minimizing damage from accidental releases, and keep communities safer.
