Latest News on Envirocare

[Steven.Rima@DOEGJPO.COM (Steven Rima)]

     Here's the latest news on Envirocare...
     
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     '95 Lapses May Cost Envirocare More
     
       BY JIM WOOLF
       THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
     
           A $30,000 settlement that Utah reached with Envirocare of Utah 
     for a number of hazardous-waste-law violations in 1995 is 
     'insufficient,'' says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 
           If the state does not reconsider its decision, EPA officials are 
     threatening to take their own enforcement action against the Tooele 
     County disposal site. Janice Pearson, an environmental engineer for 
     EPA in Denver, declined to say how much federal officials believe 
     Envirocare should have been fined. But she said the figure is  
     "substantially more" than the $30,000 Envirocare negotiated with the 
     state. 
           Utah regulators have asked EPA to justify their claim that the 
     penalty was too lenient. "At this point, we think it [the settlement] 
     is appropriate," said Scott Anderson, manager of the state's 
     hazardous-waste branch."We have no reason to say otherwise." 
           Envirocare runs a landfill about 75 miles west of Salt Lake City 
     that accepts mostly low-level radioactive wastes. But it also handles 
     so-called "mixed wastes" that are radioactive and contain "hazardous" 
     substances such as toxic metals and industrial chemicals. 
           The mixed wastes are regulated by federal hazardous-waste rules. 
     EPA has delegated the management authority for this program to the 
     Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste, but the federal agency 
     maintains an oversight responsibility. If EPA feels the state is doing 
     a poor job enforcing the rules, it can step in and take its own action 
     through a process known as "over filing." 
           Examples of this type of federal intervention are rare. But EPA 
     recently over-filed on the Utah Division of Air Quality seeking 
     stiffer penalties against the Phillips 66 refinery in Woods Cross for 
     air-pollution violations. 
           Anderson said it appears EPA managers want to take a more active 
     oversight role with the state. 
           Envirocare on Dec. 19, 1995, received a 17-page "notice of 
     violation" from the Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste. It 
     detailed a long list of problems at the mixed-waste disposal site, 
     including such things as improper storage of waste, leaving too much 
     residue in unloaded shipping containers, containers that leaked and 
     had poor-fitting lids, cracks in a concrete storage pad and too much 
     water in an evaporation tank. 
           "They looked at a number of things and found what I consider 
     minor violations," said Charles Judd, vice president of Envirocare. 
     "Most had been clarified by the time we got the notice of violation." 
           After the notice was sent to Envirocare, company officials and 
     the state spent almost a year negotiating a penalty. Judd said the 
     state initially wanted the company to pay about $60,000 in fines, but 
     the amount was bargained down. Such bargaining is a common process in 
     Utah. 
           The final settlement, reached Dec. 11, 1996, called for 
     Envirocare to pay a $15,000 cash penalty and provide free disposal for 
     about $15,000 worth of radioactive waste from a bankrupt Utah X-ray 
     company. 
           Pearson said the $30,000 penalty was too low. She said Utah 
     regulators should have included some of the violations in a higher 
     category that carries stiffer fines, and they should have cited the 
     company for multiple-day violations. For example, if a fine for 
     violating a rule is $1,000, the company should be fined $10,000 if the 
     violation continued for 10 days. 
           EPA also is unhappy about Envirocare settling a hazardous-waste 
     violation by providing free disposal of radioactive wastes. "It didn't 
     relate to hazardous waste," said Pearson. 
     
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     Steven D. Rima, CHP
     Manager, Health Physics & Industrial Hygiene
     MACTEC-ERS
     steven.rima@doegjpo.com