The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Consent Agreement and Final
Order (CAFO) to the Colville Tribal Enterprise Corp. (CTEC) and its Inchelium
Wood Treatment Plant (IWTP). As part of the settlement IWTP has agreed to
cleanup all areas of the facility that have been contaminated with wood
treating preservative chromated copper arsenate (CCA) a listed hazardous waste.
Hazardous and toxic constituents in CCA are chromium, copper, and arsenic.
There is no penalty associated with this action.
An
inspection of the IWTP facility, located at 18 Blackbird Drive, Inchelium,
Washington on October 24, 2005 by EPA, found the following alleged violations
of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA):
· Storage and disposal of hazardous waste without a permit;
· Allowed wood treatment preservative (CCA) to runoff its drip pad onto surrounding soil;
· Stored hazardous waste greater than 90 days; and
· Failed to comply with health and safety training requirements.
According to Mike Bussell, EPA’s Director of
the Office of Compliance and Enforcement in Seattle, the purpose of EPA’s RCRA
program is to manage hazardous wastes from cradle to grave to ensure that the
waste is handled in a manner that protects human health and the environment.
“I am very satisfied with the outcome of this
action,” said EPA’s Bussell. “The cooperative nature of the negotiations has
resulted in a settlement that will make this IWTP facility a much safer place
for any future activities.”
The IWTP is a tribally owned and operated wood
treating plant on the Colville Reservation. IWTP used a CCA wood preservation
to treat fence posts and poles. IWTP began operations in 1985 and ceased
operations in early 2006.
No comments:
Post a Comment