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Shell Guam fined for not providing required toxic chemical information / Company spends more that $28,000 to provide new equipment for the Guam Fire Department

Release Date: 10/05/2009
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, 808-541-2711, [email protected]

(10/05/09) HONOLULU – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reached a $30,590 settlement with Shell Guam for allegedly failing to submit required toxic chemical reports, a violation of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.

As part of the settlement, Shell Guam will pay a fine of $7,950 and also spend $28,300 to provide personal protective equipment to the Guam Fire Department.

Shell Guam, regularly uses toxic chemicals, such as polycyclic aromatic compounds and napthalene that are components of the fuel which is repackaged at the facility. Shell Guam failed to submit timely, complete, and correct Toxics Release Inventory reports to the EPA detailing the amounts of chemicals processed at its facility in 2007.

“Companies that use toxic chemicals must provide complete and accurate information about these chemicals,” said Enrique Manazanilla, Communities and Ecosystems Division director for EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “We are pleased that Shell Guam has agreed to a beneficial project that will provide additional equipment to the Guam Fire Department.”

Federal emergency planning laws require facilities processing more than 25,000 pounds of the chemicals at issue in this case to report releases of the chemicals on an annual basis to the EPA and the state.

Each year the EPA compiles information submitted from the previous year regarding toxic chemical releases and produces a national Toxics Release Inventory database for public availability. This database estimates the amounts of each toxic chemical released to the environment, treated or recycled on-site, or transferred off-site for waste management, and also provides a trend analysis of toxic chemical releases.

For more information on the TRI program, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/tri. The U.S. EPA’s environmental databases, including the TRI program data, can be accessed at: https://www.epa.gov/enviro.
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