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EPA Waives $547,150 in Penalties for Seven Companies Which Voluntarily Disclosed Chemical Reporting Violations

Release Date: 3/21/2001
Contact Information: Donna Heron, 215-814-5113

Donna Heron, 215-814-5113

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it is waiving a potential $547,150 in penalties against seven companies – six in Pennsylvania and one in Virginia – after they voluntarily disclosed and corrected chemical reporting violations.

Acting under EPA policies designed to encourage companies to police their own environmental compliance, the EPA’s mid-Atlantic office is waiving penalties against the following companies: Carbone of America Industries, St. Marys, Pa.; Cerro Metal Products Inc., Bellefonte, Pa.; General Electric Power Systems/General Electric International Inc. (GEPS/GEI), Chesapeake, Va.; Electro-Platers of York Inc., Wrightsville, Pa.; Leading Technologies Inc., Leechburg, Pa.; SinterMet LLC, Kittanning, Pa.; and Uniform Tubes Inc., Collegeville, Pa.

“EPA wants to reward responsible corporate citizens who make good-faith efforts to protect the environment. Companies can reduce or eliminate penalties by monitoring their own environmental compliance, promptly disclosing and correcting violations, and acting to prevent future problems,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator Thomas Voltaggio.

The penalty waivers announced today involve violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the federal law requiring companies to file annual reports of releases of toxic chemicals. The law requires companies that manufacture, process or use more than a threshold amount of regulated chemicals to report both routine and accidental releases of these chemicals.

EPA determined that four companies – Carbone, GEPS/GEI, Leading Technologies, and SinterMet – qualified for penalty waivers under the agency’s audit policy. This policy substantially reduces, or eliminates, penalties for violations discovered and corrected by a company on its own. The policy excludes criminal acts, or violations resulting in significant harm to public health or the environment.

The other three companies – Cerro Metal Products, Electro-Platers of York, and Uniform Tubes – signed onto a nationwide EPA program to improve reporting of releases of toxic nitrate compounds. Under the National Nitrate Initiative, companies that neglected to report past releases of nitrate compounds could settle their past violations for penalties ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 if they would commit to a rigorous self-audit of their right-to-know compliance– above and beyond the legal requirements.

Settling companies were also required to promptly correct and inform EPA about any newly discovered reporting violations.

In their self-audits, the companies discovered failures to file required reports on several toxic chemicals used or stored at their plants, including nitrate, copper and polycyclic aromatic compounds; hydrochloric acid, nickel, zinc, and cobalt. The violations involved reports for calendar years 1993 through 1999. Note: All violations involved in today’s announcement involved non-compliance with reporting requirements, and did not involve unlawful releases of toxic chemicals.

“EPA wants to reward responsible corporate citizens who make good-faith efforts to protect the environment. Companies can reduce or eliminate penalties by monitoring their own environmental compliance, promptly disclosing and correcting violations, and acting to prevent future problems,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator Thomas Voltaggio.

Companies can avoid substantial penalty liability by taking advantage of EPA’s audit policy, Voltaggio noted. For example, if EPA had uncovered the violations involved in today’s announcement – either in its own investigations or from information provided by other sources – the companies would have faced potential penalties totaling $547,150: Carbone ($73,100); Cerro Metal Products ($250,536); GEPS/GEI ($21,379); Electro-Platers of York ($43,498); Leading Technologies Inc., ($22,392), SinterMet ($88,400); Uniform Tubes Inc. ($47,845).

The emphasis is on taking appropriate preventive action now to eliminate future violations. Developing a management plan, putting systems in place, and educating employees about environmental procedures can also work in the company’s financial favor if violations are later found. Documenting procedures, including employee training, signs, checklists and a complete record of all self-audits and actions taken to correct problems can demonstrate the company’s good-faith effort if an EPA inspector later finds a problem. And such internal systems can also help a facility quality for penalty waivers if it finds and discloses violations.

As of December 2000, there have been more than 100 disclosures and EPA has reduced or waived nearly $3 million in penalties under the audit policy.

EPA’s audit policy is posted at www.epa.gov/oeca/auditpol.html. For more information on environmental audits and compliance assistance, visit www.epa.gov/reg3