News Releases from Region 05

EPA Settlement with Heritage Crystal-Clean Provides $400,000 for Lighting Upgrades at Several Gary Schools

For Immediate Release   No. 16-OPA038

(CHICAGO, Sept. 19, 2016)—U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a settlement with Heritage-Crystal Clean LLC, of Elgin, Ill., which provides $400,000 to replace old light fixtures that may contain polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, with energy-efficient lighting at several schools in Gary, Ind. This settlement resolves the company’s alleged violations of EPA rules on handling of PCBs. The company has also paid a $100,000 fine. 

PCBs are man-made organic chemicals used in paints, industrial equipment, plastics, and cooling oil for electrical transformers.  More than 1.5 billion pounds of PCBs were manufactured in the United States before the EPA banned the production of this chemical class in 1978. PCBs cause cancer in animals and are suspected carcinogens in humans.

For more information on EPA’s enforcement action under the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Supplemental Environmental Project under the Consent Agreement: http://go.usa.gov/xKVSZ

For more information on EPA’s supplemental environmental projects: /enforcement/supplemental-environmental-projects-seps.

For more information on PCB light ballasts in schools: /pcbs/polychlorinated-biphenyl-pcb-containing-fluorescent-light-ballasts-flbs-school-buildings

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