Common Environmental Violations Part 1

I wrote this post to describe some of the most common violations that I have encountered, and steps businesses can take to avoid them. Environmental regulations can be long, complex, and varied so the explanations below are meant to be brief and do not represent the many nuances of each regulation. If you would like to learn more, please send me an email at pceres29@lionpointeng.com and I would be happy to discuss.

Hazardous Waste Determination – This is the most common violation I have observed recently, and the penalties can be steep. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requires each facility to conduct an evaluation of its waste streams to determine whether any of its waste may be hazardous. The USEPA or an equivalent delegated state agency (e.g., the Florida Department of Environmental Protection [FDEP]) may knock on the door of any operating business at any time to perform a compliance evaluation inspection (CEI). Facilities are commonly cited for not evaluating their waste under RCRA because discarding hazardous waste with general waste has implications. Ordinary landfills, although equipped with sophisticated engineering (e.g., liners, leachate collection systems, methane capture, etc.), are not designed to receive hazardous waste. The five most common violations I have seen are: 1) paint booth filers; 2) paint-gun cleaning solvent waste; 3) sand abrasive blast media; 4) lubricants from Computer Numerical Control (C&C) machining; and 5) used coolants/antifreeze. A potential source of information is the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for chemicals used in the process, which may indicate whether it may meet the criteria (ignitable, reactive, or corrosive). If it is unclear, you may proceed to the next step of collecting a sample and submitting it to an approved laboratory for a Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test.

Used Oil Management – The USEPA defines used oil as any oil refined from crude oil, or any synthetic oil, that has been used and as a result has been contaminated by physical or chemical impurities. A facility is required to clearly label containers (i.e., drums, totes, aboveground storage tanks [ASTs], etc.) with the words “Used Oil”. The term “waste oil” refers to oil that is the bottom clean-out of waste from virgin fuel storage tanks, virgin fuel oil spill cleanups, or other oil wastes that have not been used. I have often seen used oil containers mislabeled waste oil. According to Florida Administrative Code 62-710.401, if used oil is stored outside, it shall be closed, covered, or otherwise protected from the weather. If used oil is not stored in secondary containment, then it must have secondary containment with the capacity to hold 110% of the volume of the largest tank/container. Facilities should ensure the company transporting their used oil is an approved transporter with a valid USEPA ID number. An inspection that identifies releases of used oil from equipment stored on-site could prompt a regulatory agency to require sampling and additional testing to determine whether poor housekeeping has resulted in a release to soil/groundwater at a facility. That means spending a lot of money.

Purchasing a Business – When a business is purchased, the environmental permits (e.g., hazardous waste, stormwater, air, AST registration, etc.) need to be updated to reflect the changes. The agency needs to understand their point of contact for conducting inspections, sending renewal notices, etc. Each agency has varied criteria for how to update the information and the time limit to complete. Because the obligation to meet the requirements and/or conditions of each permit does not go away when a business ownership changes, it is important for leaders in the business to understand the obligations of each permit to remain in compliance. Many environmental permits have a requirement that records must be kept for several years after the expiration of a permit; therefore, it is good practice to know where that legacy information that predated your affiliation with the business is housed.

Stormwater Permitting – Stormwater generally runs off via overland flow and runs into the closest lake, river, canal, etc., and is does not go through treatment as like the water coming through you tap will. Let’s say for example, that I run an auto salvage yard and I have a large number of cars outside with their hoods open, a few 55-gallon drums of oil that I’ve drained from the large number of vehicles on my storage yard, and some lead-acid batteries on a pallet. During a rainfall event that stormwater can come into contact with my exterior junk and then it absorbs some of the oils and other pollutants and then deposits them into the nearby canal. In that hypothetical scenario I would be a polluting king and Captain Planet and the Planeteers should teach me a lesson. That is the idea of a stormwater permit. The USEPA developed a list of industries that are likely to have exterior storage that could impact stormwater due to known or presumed typical business practices. Businesses falling into one of these industrial categories are required to submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) to discharge stormwater unless they can meet the conditions of a No Exposure Certification (NEC). The issuance of a stormwater permit typically requires the development and implementation of a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP), facility personnel training, analytical/qualitative stormwater sampling, etc.