U.S. EPA Requires Plastic Manufacturer Protect Santa Clara River from Pollution
Valencia company will also recycle plastic, reducing purchases by 270 tons per year
12/01/2016
Contact Information:
Nahal Mogharabi (mogharabi.nahal@epa.gov)
213-244-1815
LOS ANGELES, CA—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with Canyon Plastics, Inc. to resolve federal Clean Water Act violations. The company has corrected the deficiencies found at its facility in Valencia, Calif., and obtained a stormwater permit. In addition to paying a $19,000 penalty, Canyon Plastics has committed to install new recycling equipment at a cost of $292,000.
Canyon Plastics, located at 28455 Livingston Avenue, uses large quantities of small plastic pellets, known as “nurdles,” as raw material to manufacture plastic products. During a September 2015 inspection, EPA found the facility did not have a permit to discharge industrial stormwater and had not implemented practices to reduce the discharge of pollutants to local waterways. The inspectors found leaked or spilled nurdles throughout the facility’s waste management area and loading docks, and a lack of containment systems such as mesh screens within storm drain inlets. These deficiencies likely resulted in nurdles polluting Halsey Canyon Creek, a tributary to the Santa Clara River.
“The Santa Clara River is home to the endangered Southern California steelhead trout, and plastic pollution further degrades their habitat,” said Alexis Strauss, EPA’s Acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Canyon Plastics must install the necessary controls and operate in a way that prevents polluted runoff from reaching the river.”
Nurdles are plastic beads about 1/5 of an inch in diameter. They are widely used in manufacturing and contribute to the growing problem of plastic debris in the nation’s inland and coastal waters. Once nurdles wash into storm drains and out to open water, they can be eaten by fish, birds and other wildlife. Ingested plastic can displace food in the animals’ stomach, and may lead to starvation. In the marine environment, plastic debris has been found to absorb persistent, toxic chemicals that are harmful to humans and have been shown to travel up the food chain.
As part of the settlement, Canyon Plastics will spend $292,000 to purchase and install new equipment that will recycle plastic scraps generated at its facility and use them as raw material for some of its product lines. The new reuse system will reduce the purchase of new plastic by an estimated 270 tons per year.
Under the Clean Water Act, plastic manufacturers are required to obtain authorization under the State’s industrial stormwater permit to discharge stormwater to surface waters. The permit requires the installation of controls and use of best management practices to prevent or minimize the discharges of pollutants in runoff from their operations. Such discharges may contain pollutants such as plastic resin pellets, flakes or powders.
“The Regional Board is pleased to work with U.S. EPA to eliminate discharges of trash and plastics given their significant impacts on fish and wildlife”, said Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board Chair Irma Munoz. “The Santa Clara River is a precious natural resource for our region, and compliance with the industrial stormwater permit in all of our watersheds is crucial to protecting aquatic life from harmful plastic nurdles.”
Today’s action is subject to a 30-day public comment period that ends on January 3, 2017. To provide public comments, or for more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/ca/canyon-plastics-inc-proposed-settlement
For more information on the stormwater permits under the Clean Water Act, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/npdes/npdes-stormwater-program
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December 1, 2016
OSHA finds JFM International Inc., a Texas reel manufacturer, exposed workers
to amputation, chemical hazards; company faces $107K in fines
Employer Name:
JFM International Inc.
300 E Stewart St.
Willis, Texas
Citations Issued: Nov. 30, 2016
Investigation Findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated JFM International in September 2016, after receiving complaints from an employee. Investigators found machines with exposed rotating parts lacking safeguards to protect against amputation or serious injury. Workers were also overexposed to noise which can lead to hearing loss. OSHA cited the company for three serious health violations, including not protecting employees from electrical and flammable chemical hazards and failing to record a workplace injury.
Proposed penalties: $107,952
Quote: "JFM International must protect its employees from amputations by ensuring machinery has the proper guards," said Joann Figueroa, OSHA's area director in North Houston. "This company has to take a serious look at its current safety program and implement changes that keep workers out of harm's way."
Link to citations: https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/JFMInternationalInc_1177712.pdf
https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/JFMInternationalInc_1178747.pdf
Information: JFM International manufactures custom wire reel and reel components. The company has 15 business days from the receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Houston North office at 936-760-3800. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
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U.S. Department of Labor
November 29, 2016
OSHA cites SSA Pacific, a Washington marine cargo handling company,
for willful safety violations after 48-year-old longshoreman's fatal fall.
Similar violations found at SSA Pacific facilities in Oregon, Florida
SEATTLE - For longshoremen who load and offload timber in the upper Northwest, every ship that sails into port carries a reminder of the litany of hazards they face at work. Loads of extremely heavy logs must be handled carefully to avoid serious and potentially fatal injuries. At the same time, employers must take all necessary steps to ensure the work area is free of avoidable hazards - a lesson apparently lost on a Seattle-based cargo handling company following the June 2016 death of a 48-year-old longshoreman.
Jim Meadows was employed by SSA Pacific when he suffered fatal injuries after he fell 10 feet onto the metal deck of the Forest Trader, a 21,000-ton bulk carrier cargo ship registered in Panama.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited his employer today for willfully failing to protect its workers from falls into hatches and cargo holds. The citations follow an OSHA investigation prompted by Meadows' death. Agency inspectors who boarded the vessel found numerous hazardous areas where no netting or fall protection measures existed.
"Jim Meadows death was preventable, if only a few commonsense measures had been taken to prevent his fall and to protect his coworkers," said Galen Blanton, OSHA regional administrator in Seattle. "OSHA has cited SSA Pacific for similar violations in Oregon and Florida in the past three years in the hopes of avoiding a tragedy like this. Every employer has a solemn duty to make sure its workers return home safely at the end of every shift."
Despite OSHA guidelines that clearly recommend fall protection measures, such as netting and temporary platforms, to protect workers, SSA management claimed the crews used "buddy systems" with spotters to warn one another when one of them was working too close to hatches or risked falling overboard when securing loads of logs. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union challenged the claim that a spotter system was in place.
View citations here
To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742).
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
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NOVEMBER 30, 2016
PINE ISLAND, New York (WABC) --
A woman climbed out of rubble to safety after the house she was in exploded around her Tuesday afternoon in New York's Hudson Valley.
The explosion happened just before 4 p.m. at a home on Walling Road in Pine Island.
State police said the woman was the only person home when it blew up. She was initially trapped inside, but was able to free herself and her dog.
The home then burst into flames and was destroyed.
The family's memories were scattered all over the neighborhood. The blast was deafening.
"All of a sudden there was this huge explosion. It was awful," said Noreen Quackenbush, a neighbor. "It shook the house, it shook the windows, it knocked two plaques off the wall. We didn't know what it was."
The explosion lead to a massive fire. One neighbor who did not want to appear on TV said she'd never seen anything like it.
"You see how tall our trees are, and I just walked to the driveway and the flames were higher than the trees, and it's quite shocking," the neighbor said.
"As soon as we got out my stomach dropped. I didn't really know how to react," said Colby Quackenbush, a neighbor.
The woman's children were on the school bus headed home when it happened, and their father was on his way home from work.
"If it had been 15 minutes later, they'd probably all of them been in the house," Noreen said.
Firefighters are looking into what caused the explosion.
A GoFundMe was set up for the family the local police station reported on Facebook.
Texas Universities Address Hazardous Waste Violations in EPA Settlement
Baylor, TCU, Texas A&M all correct violations
11/28/2016
Contact Information:
Jennah Durant or Joe Hubbard (R6Press@epa.gov)
214 665-2200
DALLAS – (Nov. 28, 2016) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced settlements with three Texas universities over hazardous waste violations at university facilities. Under the settlements, Baylor University, Texas A&M University and Texas Christian University all agreed to correct violations and pay a civil penalty. EPA discovered the violations by analyzing data the facilities are required to submit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as well as analysis of additional records that the universities voluntarily provided.
Under RCRA, facilities producing hazardous waste are regulated as small- or large-quantity generators. From 2011 to 2014, while Baylor claimed to be a small-quantity generator, at times it generated more hazardous waste than is allowed under this criteria. The reason this is important is that large-quantity generators have much more stringent employee training requirements, and need to prepare detailed contingency plans for first responders. Baylor also at times generated hazardous wastes without identifying them as such. In addition to paying a civil penalty of $11,330, Baylor corrected existing violations and will revise its standard operating procedures to ensure the lab will comply with RCRA. Baylor will also purchase and donate equipment to the Waco Fire Department to aid in identifying explosives, narcotics, and toxic chemicals during emergency responses.
Similar violations were found at Texas Christian University (TCU) facilities in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU improperly operated as a large-quantity generator because it produced more than a kilogram per month of acutely hazardous waste, which are certain wastes that are more toxic in smaller quantities. During these incidents, TCU did not notify the state of Texas as required of large-quantity generators. Also, between 2011 to 2015, TCU did not make adequate or accurate hazardous waste determinations of its waste streams. TCU agreed to correct violations and pay a civil penalty of $30,591.
EPA discovered violations at four Texas A&M University campuses: Commerce; Kingsville Citrus Center in Weslaco, Texas; Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in Amarillo, Texas; and the Geochemical and Environmental Research Group in College Station, Texas. Violations included generating enough hazardous waste to qualify as a large-quantity generator but not registering as one, generating acutely hazardous waste without proper notification, and not filing required paperwork. Under four separate settlements, Texas A&M agreed to correct all violations and pay a combined penalty of $141,912.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, passed by Congress in 1976 gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from "cradle-to-grave." RCRA sets national goals for protecting human health and the environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal, conserving energy and natural resources, reducing the amount of waste generated, and ensuring wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner.
Learn more about RCRA: https://www.epa.gov/rcra
Learn more about EPA’s work in Texas: https://www.epa.gov/tx
