Charlton, MA recycling facility fined $15k for 2013 oil spill
Excel Recycling LLC of South Dartmouth has been penalized $15,100 by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to resolve the company’s failure to notify MassDEP and conduct timely cleanup actions for a waste oil spill at its Charlton facility.
On March 6, 2013, during an unrelated inspection, the Charlton Fire Department observed heavy black oil spreading across the company’s yard and traced it to several scrap underground storage tanks. The tanks had been brought to the facility to be recycled and should have been empty; however, two of them contained an estimated 150 gallons of waste oil.
MassDEP met with the facility operator and Fire Department and determined that a cleanup was necessary. Upon further investigation, MassDEP determined that Excel Recycling had discovered the spill on March 4, 2013, but did not take action or report it to MassDEP until the Fire Department discovered the release two days later.
MassDEP oversaw cleanup work. Excel Recyclying has revised its facility spill plan, conducted employee training to minimize the potential for accepting contaminated scrap in the future and agreed to the $15,100 penalty.
The company paid $3,250 of the fine to the Commonwealth, $9,750 of the penalty was directed toward purchasing spill response equipment for the Charlton Fire Department as a part of a Supplemental Environmental Project, and the remaining $2,100 has been suspended pending finalization of the SEP and no further environmental violations for a year.
(http://www.telegram.com/article/20140907/TOWNNEWS/309079997&TEMPLATE=TOWNPORTAL)
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