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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 1995
95-109
CONTACT:
Julie Sellick, Ecology (206) 649-7053
Jerry Gilliland, Ecology (360) 407-6149
Brian Gorman, NOAA (206) 526-6613
FEDERAL AGENCY FINED $120,000 FOR ILLEGALLY TRANSPORTING AND STORING DANGEROUS MIXTURE OF CHEMICAL WASTES
OLYMPIA, WA -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been fined $120,000 for illegally transporting hazardous wastes and storing them improperly. The wastes, which included reactive and potentially explosive materials, were transported through residential neighborhoods and commercial areas near the University of Washington.
The Washington Department of Ecology penalty also cited violations for improper segregation of over 3,000 containers of waste chemicals and lack of identification of wastes.
"We take these violations very seriously,” said Ecology Director Mary Riveland. "There was danger of a fire or an explosion on busy Seattle streets or at the NOAA site. People could have been killed or seriously injured by the dangerous mixture of 2,000 chemicals.”
Ecology officials today ordered the agency to change the ways it handles hazardous wastes, including improving its environmental compliance system, requiring hazardous waste handling training for NOAA personnel and efforts to reduce the amounts of wastes generated in the agency’s laboratories.
The violations occurred when NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service located at 2725 Montlake Boulevard East collected 3,100 containers of dangerous wastes from the labs in May, 1994. The wastes were transported in about 50 vehicular trips during June and July, 1994, to a NOAA storage shed at 7600 Sand Point Way NE. The material was stored for six months at the Sand Point facility which is NOAA’s Western Regional Center.
A company hired to dispose of the wastes discovered that the chemicals in the shed were not segregated adequately and included three liters of crystallized dioxane. (Crystallized dioxane can be explosive under some conditions.) The amount had the explosive potential to destroy the shed and cause significant damage within a 500-foot area. The Seattle Police Department detonated the dioxane at the site last Nov. 10, rather than risk transporting it through Seattle.
"It was fortunate that no injuries or environmental damage occurred,” Riveland said.
"NOAA officials did the right thing by collecting these old and unused chemicals from the labs for proper disposal, but they ignored the basic requirements for handling and storing hazardous wastes. The order we are issuing is intended to motivate NOAA to follow federal and state hazardous waste laws which protect citizens of our state.”
Riveland said the penalty reflects the seriousness of the violations. "We try to be fair and consistent when we issue penalties, whether the fines are issued to a private company or to a government agency. The penalties are designed to discourage repeated violations. We also want to make sure a private business or government agency doesn’t benefit financially from violating environmental laws.”
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration views this case with the utmost seriousness and will take all necessary steps to implement necessary corrective actions,” said Diana Josephson, Deputy Undersecretary at NOAA. "We have initiated a thorough evaluation of hazardous materials at this and all NOAA facilities.”
NOAA can appeal the order and penalty to the State Pollution Control Hearings Board.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
