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EPA settles with Colville Tribal Enterprise Corp. (Washington) for hazardous waste handling violations

Release Date: 10/01/2008
Contact Information: Cheryl Williams, Air/RCRA Compliance Unit, (206) 553-2137, [email protected]; Tony Brown, EPA, Public Affairs, (206) 553-1203, [email protected]

(Inchelium, WASH. – October 1, 2008) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) to the Colville Tribal Enterprise Corp. (CTEC) and its Inchelium Wood Treatment Plant (IWTP). As part of the settlement IWTP has agreed to cleanup all areas of the facility that have been contaminated with wood treating preservative chromated copper arsenate (CCA) a listed hazardous waste. Hazardous and toxic constituents in CCA are chromium, copper, and arsenic. There is no penalty associated with this action.

An inspection of the IWTP facility, located at 18 Blackbird Drive, Inchelium, Washington on October 24, 2005 by EPA, found the following alleged violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA):

• Storage and disposal of hazardous waste without a permit;
• Allowed wood treatment preservative (CCA) to runoff its drip pad onto surrounding soil;
• Stored hazardous waste greater than 90 days; and
• Failed to comply with health and safety training requirements.

According to Mike Bussell, EPA’s Director of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement in Seattle, the purpose of EPA’s RCRA program is to manage hazardous wastes from cradle to grave to ensure that the waste is handled in a manner that protects human health and the environment.

“I am very satisfied with the outcome of this action,” said EPA’s Bussell. “The cooperative nature of the negotiations has resulted in a settlement that will make this IWTP facility a much safer place for any future activities.”

The IWTP is a tribally owned and operated wood treating plant on the Colville Reservation. IWTP used a CCA wood preservation to treat fence posts and poles. IWTP began operations in 1985 and ceased operations in early 2006.

For additional information about hazardous waste and RCRA program, visit RCRA's Managing Hazardous Waste page.

For additional information about CTEC, visit: http://ctecorp.org/administration/default.htm