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Rhode Island Concrete Plant Fined for Clean Water Violations

Release Date: 03/03/2009
Contact Information: Paula Ballentine, (617) 918-1027

(Boston, Mass. – March 3, 2009) – A concrete plant in East Providence, Rhode Island will pay a fine of $55,000 and spend an estimated $178,000 to complete three “Supplemental Environmental Projects” to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act.

An EPA inspection in July 2007 found that the Consolidated Concrete Corporation violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by discharging waste water from its concrete manufacturing facility without authorization, and by discharging storm water associated with industrial activity, without having applied for a Rhode Island storm water permit.

As a result of Consolidated Concrete’s violations, waste water and storm water containing pollutants from the facility were being discharged into a nearby stream, particularly during wet-weather events. The company also failed to prepare and implement a Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan as required by the Oil Pollution Prevention regulations under the CWA.

After the EPA inspection, the company quickly brought its facility into compliance with the CWA. The company contained its waste water discharges on site, filed for permit coverage under the Rhode Island Permit for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Industrial Activities and implemented a Professional-Engineer-certified SPCC plan.

In addition to paying a penalty, the Consolidated Concrete Corporation will spend approximately $178,000 to complete three Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs). The first two SEPs involve construction and implementation of a closed loop recycling system so that captured waste waters can be re-used in its concrete manufacturing operations. In addition to saving water, the company will periodically empty out the solids from the containment basins and re-use them in its manufacturing process greatly reducing the amount of cement dust or sediment exposed to the environment. The third SEP involves the installation of two Storm Water Quality Control Units to improve the quality of storm water runoff from the Facility.

More information:

- EPA's enforcement of the Clean Water Act in New England (epa.gov/region1/enforcement/water)

- Storm Water Permits in New England (epa.gov/region1/npdes/stormwater)

- Rhode Island Industrial Storm Water Permitting (http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/permits/ripdes/index.htm)

- Prevention of oil spills (www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/spcc/index.htm)