PHILADELPHIA (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement on Tuesday with Olson Wire Products Co. to resolve allegations of hazardous waste violations at its Baltimore manufacturing facility.
Under the terms of the settlement, Olson Wire must pay an $80,000 civil penalty. The company has also certified its compliance of applicable Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requirements. The company neither admits nor denies liability for the alleged violations as part of the agreement.
Olson Wire allegedly violated the RCRA, the federal law that governs the disposal, storage and treatment of hazardous waste. The RCRA is meant to protect the environment and public health, as well as to avoid costly cleanups, by requiring environmentally sound and safe disposal and storage of hazardous waste.
The EPA cited Olson Wire, a steel wire shelving and fabricated wire products manufacturer, for allegedly violating federally authorized state hazardous waste storage regulations during a May 25, 2011 inspection. Olson Wire allegedly stored wastewater treatment sludge from its electroplating operations, used aerosol cans containing an enamel-based product that is sprayed onto metal parts prior to powder coating and spent lead anode rods from plating processes.
The alleged violations included: The storage of hazardous waste for periods greater than 90 days without a permit; failure to submit a biennial report regarding hazardous waste activities at the facility during 2009; failing to maintain training records of personnel having hazardous waste management responsibilities; offering hazardous waste for off-site transport and disposal without preparing approved manifest forms and through parties not authorized to receive or transport hazardous waste; failure to properly label and keep containers of hazardous waste closed during storage; and failure to make required hazardous waste determinations.