[StBernard] Office & Maintenance Shop Facility Fined for Violating the Clean Water Act

Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Fri Aug 28 00:30:33 EDT 2009


Office & Maintenance Shop Facility Fined for Violating the Clean Water Act



(Dallas, Texas - August 27, 2009) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
has fined Kass Bros. Office & Maintenance Shop Facility $1,950 for violating
federal Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations
outlined under the Clean Water Act. A federal inspection of a bulk storage
facility owned by Kass Bros., Inc., and located at 1101 Destrahan Avenue,
Harvey, Louisiana, on May 21, 2009, revealed the facility's SPCC plan had
inadequate or no information and procedures for reporting a discharge and
inadequate or no prediction of equipment failure which could result in
discharges. Inspections and tests required by federal regulations did not
follow written procedures developed for the facility, were not kept with the
SPCC plan and were not maintained for three years which is also required by
federal regulations. Personnel working at the site had no training on the
operation and maintenance of equipment to prevent discharges, no training on
discharge procedure protocols, and no training on applicable pollution
control laws, rules and regulations. The inspection also found spill
prevention briefings were not scheduled and conducted periodically, the SPCC
plan had inadequate or no discussion of site security, secondary containment
was inadequate for mobile or portable storage tanks, and was inadequate or
did not discuss facility transfer operations, pumping and facility
processes. As part of an Expedited Settlement Agreement with EPA, the
facility has provided certification that all identified deficiencies have
been corrected.



SPCC regulations require onshore oil production or bulk storage facilities
to provide oil spill prevention, preparedness and response to prevent oil
discharges. The SPCC program helps protect our nation's water quality. A
spill of only one gallon of oil can contaminate one million gallons of
water.



Additional information on SPCC regulations is available at
http://www.epa.gov/oilspill <http://www.epa.gov/oilspill>



More about activities in EPA Region 6: http://www.epa.gov/region6
<http://www.epa.gov/region6>



EPA audio file is available at
http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/aug2009.html
<http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/aug2009.html>



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