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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Nov. 18, 1999
99-244
Contact: Julie Sellick, Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction Program,
(425) 649-7053
Ron Langley, Ecology Public Information, (425) 649-7009
BELLEVUE - The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has ordered Circuits Engineering, Inc. to make safety improvements after it spilled a hazardous chemical outside of its Bothell plant on property adjacent to a residential area.
Ecology fined Circuits Engineering $30,000 for the July 31 spill in which 50-150 gallons of copper sulfate solution spilled onto soil outside of the company's building, which is located in a mixed residential and industrial area at 1832 - 180th St. S.E. in Bothell.
Circuits Engineering uses copper sulfate solution to manufacture circuit boards for electronic equipment. The spill occurred when the solution escaped through a mistakenly opened valve in the company's recycling system, then overflowed a spill containment system that was too small. No one was injured.
The company has violated hazardous-waste laws in the past. In 1993, Ecology discovered, and the company resolved, hazardous-waste management problems at the Bothell plant. In a separate case in 1995, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pursued a criminal investigation against Circuits Engineering for knowingly discharging hazardous waste to the King County sewer system. The result was a plea agreement in which the company paid a $40,000 penalty and a company officer was sentenced to five years probation and 500 hours community service.
The company has since improved its facilities and made significant reductions in the amount of waste it produces and discharges to the sewer. However, the system installed by the company to recycle its copper sulfate solution was not maintained to the standards Ecology observed at the rest of the plant.
"Circuits Engineering has a history of correcting its environmental problems, only to allow something else to emerge later," said Julie Sellick, a hazardous-waste manager with Ecology. "They're once again working hard to protect the environment, and we hope this time they'll make it stick."
In addition to the penalty, Ecology has ordered the company to:
Circuits Engineering has 15 days to ask Ecology to reduce the penalty based on previously unknown information, and 30 days to appeal it to the State Pollution Control Hearings Board.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
