EPA Requires City of Tolleson, Ariz. to Comply with Chemical Safety Laws
The City of Tolleson will also spend $268,192 on two voluntary supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) to improve the chlorine disinfection system
PHOENIX – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized a settlement with the City of Tolleson, Arizona, that resolves alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act at the Tolleson Wastewater Treatment Plant. These federal laws are designed to ensure the safe manufacture, use, storage, and handling of hazardous chemicals. The Plant uses chlorine, a regulated toxic chemical that can cause serious health effects, including eye, skin, throat, and lung damage. The settlement requires the City of Tolleson to take action to return to compliance and to pay a civil penalty of $47,068. Additionally, the City will perform two voluntary supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) to improve its chlorine disinfection system.
"Arizona residents should not have to live with the threat of exposure to harmful chemicals and hazardous waste," said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. "EPA's enforcement action holds facilities accountable when they fail to follow our nation's critical chemical safety laws."
In November 2022, the EPA inspected the Tolleson Wastewater Treatment Plant. Based on the inspection, EPA identified several deficiencies, including:
- Failure to submit annual hazardous chemical inventory forms.
- Failure to complete compliance audits and revalidate process hazard analyses.
- Failure to correct equipment deficiencies on time.
- Failure to adequately maintain proper documentation of its chemical safety program, including process safety information, equipment inspections, and training records.
Following the inspection, the City of Tolleson proactively made significant safety improvements to its facility. It also completed equipment repairs, installed safety signage, and protected its outdoor chlorine cylinders. It improved its documentation management system, completed a compliance audit, and revalidated its process hazard analysis. The Plant has returned to compliance with most deficiencies identified in the inspection report. Only two remaining tasks are due by the end of 2024, as required in the settlement agreement. These tasks include providing documentation for its chlorine storage room's ventilation system and completing all recommendations identified in its latest compliance audit.
The City of Tolleson has also demonstrated its commitment to public health and safety by agreeing to spend $268,192 on two voluntary supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) to improve its chlorine disinfection system. The first project involves installing a new chlorine dosing and detection system that will increase safety and public health protection at the Plant. The second project is a disinfection alternatives study, in which the Plant will determine whether it is more suitable to switch to a less toxic substance than chlorine for its disinfection process.
The SEPs are environmentally beneficial projects or activities that are not required by law but that a party agrees to undertake as part of the settlement of an enforcement action. Such projects or activities go beyond what the respondent could legally require, and they secure environmental and public health benefits in addition to those achieved by compliance with the law.
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act Chemical Reporting Requirements:
The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act requires facilities that store hazardous chemicals to submit annual inventories to state and local regulatory agencies. The inventories require basic facility identification information, employee contact information for emergencies and non-emergencies, information about chemicals stored or used at the facility, and additional data elements applicable to local planners and responders. Learn more about hazardous chemical inventory reporting.
Clean Air Act Risk Management Program:
EPA's Clean Air Act Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations work to prevent accidental chemical releases in our communities and the environment. Facilities holding more than a threshold quantity of a regulated substance are required to comply with EPA's RMP regulations. The regulations require owners or operators of covered facilities to develop and implement an RMP and to submit a risk management plan to EPA. Learn more about the Risk Management Program rule.
For more information on reporting possible violations of environmental laws and regulations visit EPA’s enforcement reporting website.
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