No cheap spill: EPA seeks $200K in fines from college

From http://www.wickedlocal.com/lancaster/news/x1331534512/No-cheap-spill-EPA-seeks-200K-in-fines-from-college

By Jason Crotty
Thu Mar 19, 2009, 09:41 AM EDT

Lancaster - Atlantic Union College’s oil spill in August could cost it more than $200,000 in fines, depending on whether the college appeals the complaint brought by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The college discharged oil last fall into a nearby brook that feeds the Nashua River. The EPA is proposing that the college pay up to $177,500 for failing to institute a spill prevention, control and countermeasure plan required by the federal Clean Water Act, and face another $32,500 per day fine for failing to file hazardous chemical inventory forms.
AUC Public Relations Director Cindy Kurtzhals said Tuesday the case “is in legal hands,” but did not offer further comment. An EPA spokesman also said March 17 the two parties have not yet agreed to terms.
“These are alleged violations. There have not been any resolutions,” said David Deegan, press coordinator of EPA’s New England office.
According to an EPA report, the spill was discovered Aug. 4 by a resident in South Lancaster who observed an oil sheen on the brook, which feeds into the Nashua River. The report stated that the “spill originated from a 500-gallon tank in Atlantic Union’s powerhouse and was discharged through multiple drains in the powerhouse’s cement floor.”
AUC President Norman Wendth could not be reached for comment before the Times & Courier’s Tuesday evening deadline. Wendth said last August the college planned to pay the entire cleanup cost unless state aid was given. Wendth said after the incident there was no lasting environmental damage.
Under federal law, AUC should have had an inventory of its hazardous chemicals on file with the local emergency planning committee, the state Emergency Response Commission and local fire department, the EPA said.
The college was also supposed to file a spill prevention plan to “ensure that measures are in place to prevent leaks and spills from impacting navigable waters,” according to the EPA report, and “facilities are required to have secondary containment such as cement floors and dikes surrounding a storage tank, to capture any oil released from the tank.”
(Jason Crotty can be reached at 978-365-8046 or jcrotty@cnc.com.)