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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 12, 1996
96-143
Contact:
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Water Quality Program, (206) 649-7037
Ron Langley, Ecology Public Information, (206) 649-7009
Ecology Issues Second Penalty To Seafood Company
Bellevue, WA -- The Washington State Department of Ecology has penalized Crystal Ocean Seafood, Inc., $12,000 for multiple violations of its wastewater discharge permit. This is the second time in the past 18 months that Ecology has penalized the company for waste disposal practices that threaten water quality. The company's plant is located in Burlington, in Skagit County.
"Crystal Ocean Seafood is having a hard time properly managing the waste from its fish processing business," said Kevin Fitzpatrick, who manages water quality industrial permits at Ecology's regional office in Bellevue. "They've improved their disposal method in the past year and a half, but they still aren't doing it right."
The company currently faces a penalty for discharging more pollutants than allowed under its water quality permit on 36 different occasions since last May. In some cases, the volume and concentration of fish matter trucked to the City of Bellingham wastewater treatment plant were double or triple the permitted amount, pushing the treatment plant to its design limits. So far, treatment plant staff have been able to compensate for the problem, thus avoiding any damage to the environment.
About one year ago, Crystal Ocean Seafood started sending waste to the Bellingham facility after Burlington residents complained of intensely foul odors coming from the company's land application of its waste. Ecology penalized the company $9,000 in May 1995 for inadequately treating the wastewater and spraying it on nearby fields at concentrations greater than the fields could absorb.
Ecology has rejected the company's request to reduce the most recent penalty, finding that the company introduced no new evidence to show that the original penalty was excessive. The company may appeal the penalty to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
