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Posted on 07/16/2003 8:37:04 PM PDT by farmfriend
Humboldt Creamery fined for 'over-reporting' chemical release
By Jennifer Morey The Times-Standard
FERNBRIDGE -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached a settlement with Humboldt Creamery that requires the company to pay $5,000 for allegedly over-reporting the amount of nitric acid it released into the environment in 1999 and 2000.
Ironically, the actual amount of nitric acid the creamery released was ... zero pounds. That's right, zip. Zilch. Nada. But it's still being fined, simply because it reported incorrectly.
That's because the nitric acid was purchased, used to clean equipment, then neutralized to convert it to a nitrate compound and used as a fertilizer. Rich Ghilarducci, president and CEO of Humboldt Creamery, said the nitric acid was reported as a release because the creamery was under the impression it was supposed to report it that way, as well as the release of the nitrate compound.
In an audit, EPA found that the nitric acid was not actually released and therefore fined the creamery for over-reporting its releases. The point of the reporting system, EPA representatives said, is that the national database of toxic chemical releases be accurate, and that's why the creamery was fined -- for inaccuracy.
The EPA said that the violation is categorized as "alleged" because the creamery is not admitting to the violation but rather agreeing to pay the fine with no admission of guilt.
"They agreed to pay the fine," said Leo Kay with the EPA press office in San Francisco. "There's no admission of guilt required if they agree to pay the fine."
Kay said the creamery reported it had released 40,918 pounds of nitric acid in 1999 and 65,292 pounds in 2000. The actual amount released was zero, in both years.
Companies don't often report releasing more of a chemical than is actually released.
"It's kind of a rare thing," said Kay. "Most fines involve under-reporting, not over-reporting."
Nitric acid is used by the creamery to clean its equipment.
"What happens is nitric acid is a food-grade cleaner," said Rich Ghilarducci, president/CEO of Humboldt Creamery. "After we use it we neutralize it and it becomes a neutral, non-toxic compound, a nitrate compound which we then use as fertilizer."
Ghilarducci said the creamery, through an attorney, got the fine reduced.
"The original fine amount was around $30,000," he said. "We were not even able to negotiate directly with them, we had to hire an attorney to negotiate with their attorney. Basically the reason we settled is that we decided it's cheaper than going to court."
Ghilarducci said there was confusion at dairies across the country about how to report the nitric acid, that it wasn't just Humboldt Creamery that had this problem. He said the EPA notified the creamery at the end of 2000 that it wasn't supposed to report the nitric acid it purchased if that chemical was then neutralized and converted to the nitrate compound before being released.
As part of the settlement, EPA said the creamery agreed to send a representative to an EPA workshop to make sure the toxic release reporting requirements are fully understood.
The Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act requires certain facilities using chemicals over certain amounts to file annual reports of chemical releases with the EPA and the state. The reports estimate the amounts of each toxic chemical released to the environment, treated or recycled on-site, or transferred off-site for waste management. Information is then compiled into a national database and made available to the public.
Kay said Congress enacted the right-to-know law after a poisonous gas leak from a pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, in December 1984, that killed an estimated 16,000 people and injured as many as 500,000.
Each year the EPA publishes a report called the Toxic Release Inventory Public Data Release, which summarizes the prior year's submissions and provides detailed trend analysis of toxic chemical releases. For more information on the program, call 800 424-9346 or visit www.epa.gov/opptinitr/tri . The EPA's environmental databases, including the Toxic Release Inventory data, can be accessed at www.epa.gov/enviro .
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It's like seatbelt laws.
Yes, but the government is exempt from all laws.
Why does this sound like extortion ?
I could understand if they tried to hide it .. but they didn't .. they just misunderstood the requirements
And what would be the penalty for an admission of guilt, torture?
I was considered an expert because I understood the EPA forms & regulations better than the "consultants" corporate hired to help us
I went on to get a lot of money from other companies for filling out their forms
I understood them well enough to keep my clients from paying fines, but I still dont understand them
I dont think anyone does
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