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EPA, OMG settle waste case

Release Date: 8/3/2001
Contact Information:
(303) 312 6780,

Release Date: 8/3/2001
Contact Information:
(800) 227 8917 + EXT

DENVER–A Utah metals manufacturer will perform at least $890,000 worth of environmental work and pay a $125,000 penalty to settle charges brought last August by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for alleged mishandling of hazardous wastes at the company’s Apex Plant site near St.George.

EPA had charged OMG Americas, Inc. with storing and disposing of wastes from its cobalt and tungsten recycling operations in violation of the nation’s basic hazardous waste law, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. EPA had proposed a $1.4 million fine on 19 counts and ordered changes to bring the plant into compliance with the law.

The plant is now in compliance according to EPA attorney Amy Swanson in Denver who said OMG had been most cooperative during negotiations over the past year.

Without admitting or denying the facts in the complaint, OMG agreed to pay the fine and undertake “supplemental environmental projects (SEPs)” over the next three years. EPA often accepts SEPs as part of settlements to accomplish work that benefits the environment near the site of violations.

Ms. Swanson said the list of projects was based on input provided by OMG, the Shivwits Band of Paiute Indians and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Apex Plant is on the Shivwits’ Reservation.

EPA approved multiple SEPs. OMG may perform any combination of the projects totaling at least $890,000. Possible projects include:

• Paying for the development of an environmental program for the Shivwits Band. That program could include developing a reservation-wide environmental policy, cooperation with BLM on surrounding lands, fire and weed control, habitat protection, training, education and pollution reduction.

• A project to empty wastewater and solids from two waste ponds on the OMG plant site, clean them up and regrade them.

• Pollution prevention and reduction in tungsten operations, which could include a new wastewater treatment system at the plant that would reduce groundwater consumption by 45 percent. Ammonia recycling, improved capture of hydrogen sulfide gas and process changes to capture more tungsten thereby cutting solid waste also figure into this plan.

• Improvements in cobalt operations that would reduce the use of raw water, cut wastewater and reduce by about 10,000 pounds the cobalt disposed of on the site or shipped offsite as waste.

• Establishing written procedures for managing all of the facility’s environmental requirements, following ISO 14000 guidelines, the internationally accepted standard for environmental management systems in the private sector.

The agreement calls for the work to be done in three years with progress reports due every six months.

“We’re delighted with this outcome,” Swanson said. “This facility is now in compliance and there will be continuing environmental improvements at the plant and benefits to the reservation as a result of the SEPs.”

The agreement was filed Wednesday with EPA’s hearing clerk in Denver. Regional Judicial Officer Alfred C. Smith issued a final order on the same day, approving the consent agreement and ordering OMG to comply with its terms and conditions.