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Maximum penalty under Clean Water Act assessed for bypassing
SAN FRANCISCO An Oakland metal finishing company agreed to pay a
$385,000 civil penalty today -- the maximum amount allowed under the federal
Clean Water Act for illegally diverting metal-contaminated wastewater to
nearby city sewers.
This civil settlement is part of a joint civil and criminal
settlement involving E-D Coat and its officers. The EPA civil action
concerns the construction and operation of a system that diverted wastewater
containing high levels of cadmium, chromium, copper, cyanide, lead and zinc
from its facility on 715th 4th Street around treatment straight to the
sewers. The facility had installed a bypass valve that enabled the facility
to send untreated metal plating waste fluid straight to city sewers by
simply turning a switch. The facility, which consists of three buildings
between Third and Fourth streets, also had illegal concealed pipes that
drained effluent through the bathroomconnections straight to the sewers.
"E-D Coat's violations represent a blatant end run around the Clean
Water Act, and the facility is now paying for its behavior. It's clear that
this illegal system was in place for many years," said Wayne Nastri,
administrator of the EPA's Pacific Southwest Office in San Francisco. "I
want to send a clear message to people who think they can evade federal
environmental law at the public's expense: We will find you and we will fine
you."
Separately, E-D Coat and its officers were sentenced today in
district court. As part of their criminal pleas, ED-Coat officials have
agreed to remove their illegal bypass valve, remove the concealed sewer
connections and "hard plumb" all of their drains to the wastewater treatment
system.
Although the facility's new buildings were constructed in the early
1980s, regulators are uncertain how long the illegal bypass valve was in
place.
EPA and East Bay Municipal Utilities District inspectors began
looking at E-D Coat after receiving information alleging that the facility
was bypassing its wastewater treatment system. During an inspection of the
facility, EPA and EBMUD inspectors discovered the bypass valve that the
facility was operating in order to avoid properly treating its metal plating
wastewaters.
Running the wastewater diversion process provided ED-Coat with an
unfair business advantage over competitors since the facility did not have
to pay the usual disposal costs of metals and other contaminants. The
illegal discharges also could have caused the local sewage treatment plant
serving the greater East Bay to fail from receiving such high metal
contamination. Finally, inspectors determined that acidic effluent from the
concealed pipes had corroded sewer lines along Fourth Street.
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