Coakley
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced a lawsuit Friday against a New York trucking company that allegedly failed to pay $330,000 in hazardous waste transport fees.
Price Trucking Corp. allegedly transported hazardous waste on the commonwealth's roads and failed to pay more than $329,500 in hazardous waste transport fees to the state in 2008 and 2009. The state's Hazardous Waste Management Act requires that all transporters of hazardous waste to pay quarterly transporter fees based on the quantity of hazardous waste transported.
"Massachusetts' law requires licensed hazardous waste transporters to pay transport fees in order to ensure that resources are available to cover the costs of hazardous waste spills in the commonwealth," Coakley said. "When Price Trucking applied for and accepted a license to transport hazardous waste in Massachusetts, it became obligated to pay those fees, which it has failed to do for years."
Coakley's office is seeking an order requiring Price Trucking to make immediate payment of the unpaid fees, plus interest, and to provide the state with copies of certain electronic monitoring reports documenting the quantity of hazardous waste it transported during 2009.
Price Trucking allegedly fell behind in its quarterly hazardous waste transporter fee payments in late 2008 and continued to fail to make the required payments throughout 2009.
The complaint also alleges that audits of transport records by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in 2008 and 2009 revealed that the company owed additional fees beyond those disclosed in its quarterly reports. As a result of the non-payment, MassDEP suspended Price Trucking's transporter license in January 2010. That license has since expired. While Price Trucking is no longer licensed to transport hazardous waste in Massachusetts, the company allegedly continues to operate as a hazardous waste transporter in New York and other states.
"By failing to submit the required reports for the period of July 2009 to January 2010, Price Trucking prevented MassDEP from ensuring the company was meeting and in compliance with its transporter license and state hazardous waste regulations," Kenneth Kimmell, the MassDEP commissioner, said.