News Releases from Region 01
Settlements Ensure that Three Companies Comply with Public Right-to-Know Rules
BOSTON - Two Massachusetts companies, and one company in Connecticut will pay penalties and take actions to ensure they are following federal reporting requirements for use of hazardous chemicals. These enforcement actions by the US Environmental Protection Agency will help ensure that the public is aware of the potential for chemical releases in their communities. The companies involved in these settlements are KT Acquisition, Worcester, Mass., Suddekor, East Longmeadow, Mass.; and Laticrete, Bethany, Conn. All three companies have now taken steps to provide the required reports.
Suddekor LLC of East Longmeadow, Mass. will pay a penalty of $42,569 to settle EPA allegations that it failed three years in a row to report its use of a nitrate compound, as required by the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-know Act (EPCRA). EPA alleged that Suddekor failed to file the federal Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Forms for a water dissociable nitrate compound in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
KT Acquisition of Worcester, Mass., a precision closed-die forging and investment casting facility, will pay a penalty of $10,584 to settle EPA allegations that it failed to submit TRI information in a timely fashion for reporting year 2012, for three chemicals: including nickel, cobalt and chromium. The company filed the required information more than 200 days late but then came into compliance.
Laticrete International, Inc. of Bethany, Conn. will pay a civil penalty of $21,078 and will complete a $20,000 "supplemental environmental project" (SEP) for the Town of Bethany Fire Department, to resolve EPA allegations that the company violated EPCRA by failing to complete and submit Forms for several chemicals as required under TRI. The chemicals including ethylene glycol and lithium carbonate processed at the company's Bethany facility in 2011 and 2013. Laticrete will also certify that it is currently operating in compliance with Section 313 of EPCRA and associated regulations. Under terms of the settlement, Laticrete will purchase and donate emergency response equipment to the Bethany Fire Company, including computers that will allow for field access of chemical and emergency response information, monitoring equipment to perform field readings and monitoring of conditions during hazardous materials incidents, and for personal protection of emergency responders who might encounter hazardous chemicals in the field.
Failure of facilities to file TRI forms deprive local community members and officials of their right to know about releases and the presence of chemicals in the neighborhood. EPA's enforcement of these requirements underscores the importance of reporting requirements contained in EPCRA so that local communities are not deprived of information about chemical releases that may affect public health and the environment.
More information about the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-know Act (EPCRA): www.epa.gov/epcra