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EPA FINES THREE NEW BEDFORD COMPANIES FOR FAILING TO REPORT AMMONIA USE

Release Date: 03/30/1999
Contact Information: Amy Miller, EPA Press Office (617-918-1042)

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed an $18,489 fine against each of three New Bedford companies charged with failing to report the use and storage of large quantities of ammonia, as required by federal environmental law.

Maritime Terminal Inc., Bridge Terminal Inc. and Crystal Ice Company Inc. were found in violation of the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) during inspections last August by EPA. These inspections were done less than a month after local emergency officials, working with EPA, invited these companies and more than 150 other ammonia users in New Bedford to a forum on how to meet the EPCRA requirements.

All three companies were charged with: failing to alert the State Emergency Response Commission that the company is a user of ammonia and subject to emergency planning; failing to designate an emergency coordinator to the Local Emergency Planning Committee; failing to provide required data reports to state and local emergency officials, and failing to submit to state and local officials annual chemical inventory reports for 1995, 1996 and 1997.

"City leaders have worked very hard to get New Bedford companies to follow reporting laws meant to protect the health and safety of the community," said John P. DeVillars, EPA's New England Administrator. "Companies that persist in violating these laws are needlessly risking workers, nearby residents and emergency response personnel to potential chemical exposure."

Maritime Terminal and Bridge Terminal package seafood and operate as large cold storage warehouses. Crystal Ice makes ice and sells it to commercial enterprises. Each of the companies was storing about 5,000 pounds of ammonia on site, 10 times the threshold for reporting.

New Bedford's Local Emergency Planning Committee invited 166 companies to the informational forum on July 15 to give local ammonia users information on EPCRA. Representatives from only eight companies came to the forum, planned with help from EPA. Crystal, Bridge and Maritime, three of the city's biggest ammonia users, were absent from the forum. Federal inspectors found the violations during an Aug. 8 inspection.

Emergency planning officials in New Bedford planned the forum out of concern for the safety of personnel responding to chemical releases and to assure that facility chemical storage information is available to the public as required by chemical right-to-know laws. During the forum, participants were advised that their status as small businesses would give them a chance to voluntarily come into compliance without penalty for past non-reporting violations.

Ammonia, which is used as a coolant, is an extremely hazardous substance. It can cause severe burning and irritation to eyes, nose and respiratory system.