The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday fined Chemical Waste Management, Inc. more than $300,000 for failure to properly manage PCBs at its Kettleman Hills Hazardous Waste Landfill.
During a series of 2010 inspections, EPA investigators found that CWM improperly managed PCBs at the facility. Further analysis revealed spills next to the facility’s PCB Storage and Flushing Building. Samples taken by EPA and CWM in and around the building detected PCBs at elevated levels ranging from 2.1 parts per million (ppm) up to 440 ppm. These levels are above the regulatory limit of 1 ppm and, in soil, show PCBs were improperly disposed of in violation of federal law.
EPA regulations require PCBs are properly tracked, stored and disposed. The Kettleman Hills Facility handles the treatment, storage and disposal of PCBs, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, and is the only landfill in California federally regulated to handle PCBs, and is just one of ten PCB regulated landfills in the country.
TXT 24
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