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Tyco Draws Largest Environmental Fine in New England History HARTFORD, Connecticut, August 19, 2004 (ENS) - Tyco Printed Circuit Group of Stafford, Connecticut, a subsidiary of Tyco International, has been sentenced in Hartford federal court to pay $10 million in fines and environmental restoration for discharging copper, lead and other toxic substances into Connecticut waters.On April 29, Tyco pleaded guilty to 12 felony counts of violating the federal Clean Water Act at three Connecticut facilities between 1999 and 2001. In Hartford federal court on Monday, U.S. District Judge Alfred Covello ordered Tyco to pay $6 million in criminal fines and $4 million toward the following environmentally beneficial programs: (1) $2.7 million to the Connecticut DEP's natural resources fund (2) $500,000 each to the towns of Stafford and Manchester to fund sewer and water treatment system improvements (3) $300,000 to recycle deionized and other wastewater at Tyco's Stafford and Staffordville facilities. In documents and statements filed with the Court, Tyco acknowledged the company committed a range of environmental crimes at Tyco's facilities in Manchester, Stafford, and Staffordville, Connecticut, with the knowledge and active participation of the company's head of Environmental Health and Safety Daniel Callahan, and two waste treatment supervisors, Anthony Dadalt and Robert Smith. In 2000 and 2001, at the now vacant Manchester plant, Tyco regularly bypassed equipment designed to treat wastewater and reduce levels of copper, lead and other toxics. The company used the bypass in order to avoid slowing production and to ease pressure on the overburdened waste treatment system. Tyco was required to seek prior approval for bypasses from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), but the company ignored that requirement until it was caught in the act of bypassing by a DEP inspector in the spring of 2001. Then DEP conducted "surreptitious monitoring in the sewer downstream of the Manchester facility" and found high levels of lead and copper. On June 6, 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency executed a federal search warrant at the facility. Tyco admitted that its Manchester employees failed to report discharges from a waste treatment "batch tank." Under a discharge permit issued by the DEP, Tyco was required to treat wastewater in the batch tank until it could be discharged within permit limits, and monitor and report discharges of the batch tank each month. Again, Tyco ignored these requirements, sometimes discharging the batch tank when sampling indicated that permit limits had not been met, and other times discharging without sampling at all. To conceal these discharges, Tyco employees, including Callahan, assisted in preparing false reports to the DEP that indicated that no discharge of the batch tank had occurred. The U.S. attorney said these activities "were part of a broader scheme carried out by Tyco's environmental managers between 1999 and June 2001 at each of the three Connecticut facilities to avoid reporting permit violations, particularly regarding toxic metals and pH." Callahan, Dadalt and Smith previously pleaded guilty to felony Clean Water Act violations. On July 30, 2004, Chief United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny sentenced Smith to one year probation. Dadalt and Callahan are scheduled to be sentenced on August 20 and August 31, respectively. Each faces a sentence of up to three years of imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000. The government is "unaware of any environmental harm attributable to Tyco's conduct," said the U.S. Attorney's Office, adding that it is "impossible to fully assess the potential impact of these crimes on the environment because the scheme was intended to conceal the actual pollutant levels in Tyco's discharges."
California AG Sues Mirant for Energy Crisis Profiteering SAN FRANCISCO, California, August 19, 2004 (ENS) - California Attorney General Bill Lockyer Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Mirant alleging the firm "unjustly profited from rampant lying and fraud during the energy crisis of 2000-01 that drained billions of dollars from California's economy and ratepayers.""Mirant profited by breaking the law and plundering the people of California," said Lockyer. "They were, without question, one of the worst offenders during the energy crisis. Mirant told grid operators generating units were down when they were not, Lockyer's complaint alleges. "They created bogus grid congestion, then received premium payments to relieve it. To avoid in-state price caps, they created the illusion of importing energy from out of state," said Lockyer. "Californians paid dearly for Mirant's fraud." Filed in San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of the people, Lockyer's complaint alleges Mirant's market manipulation violated the state's commodities fraud statute and Unfair Competition Law (UCL). The lawsuit seeks restitution, damages and disgorgement of unjust profits. Additionally, the complaint asks the court to award civil penalties of $25,000 for each commodities fraud violation and $2,500 for each violation of the Unfair Competition Law. The complaint does not specify the total relief sought. The court will determine that figure based on the evidence. But Lockyer said the damages, restitution, disgorgement and civil penalties could well total in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Mirant filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 on July 14, 2003. The energy company based in Atlanta, Georgia produces and sells electricity in North America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. Mirant owns or controls more than 17,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity globally. The lawsuit is the latest enforcement action resulting from Lockyer's ongoing investigation of market misconduct by Mirant and other power companies during the energy crisis. The complaint alleges Mirant engaged in the unlawful conduct for at least three years. "Beginning as early as 1999 and continuing at least through 2001, the Mirant defendants willfully engaged in an array of manipulative and fraudulent schemes designed to enable them to obtain ‘congestion relief' payments for taking actions that did not relieve any congestion, to receive payment for excess generation through the submission of false schedules, and to circumvent the ... price cap by falsely representing the source of the energy," the complaint alleges. The Mirant case marks the second time Lockyer has sued a company for commodities fraud using the enforcement authority granted him under a law that took effect January 1, 2004. Lockyer on June 17, 2004 sued Enron under the same law. Lockyer's complaint against Mirant focuses on strategies pioneered by Enron to manipulate the market. Lockyer's Energy Task Force, working in cooperation with utilities, state regulators and the governor's office, has produced eight settlements to resolve enforcement actions and refund claims arising from the energy crisis. The settlements have a combined value of $2.64 billion. Of that total, $2.1 billion represents ratepayer relief.
Forest Service Allows Timber Sale in Roadless Tongass KETCHIKAN, Alaska, August 19, 2004 (ENS) – The Forest Service has approved a 1,800 acre logging project within a roadless area of the Tongass National Forest.The project is the second timber sale approved by the Forest Service in the wake of the Bush administration’s lifting of a federal rule that protected roadless areas of the Tongass from logging and development. Local tribal and conservation groups strongly oppose the project, but Tongass National Forest Supervisor Forrest Cole defended the sale as critical to the local economy and said it could generate nearly 240 jobs. "Supporting our local communities is an important part of what we do and offering this timber sale is a way we can accomplish that goal," said Cole. "I’m very concerned about the economic health of southeast Alaska communities and my hope is this project will help our local, family-run mills keep operating and create jobs." The logging plan allows the harvest of 37.9 million acres from a 1,800-acre area on Gravina Island, located across Tongass Narrows from the town of Ketchikan. Some 21.8 miles of new roads will be constructed to access the timber. Critics say the decision ignores more than 7,000 public comments opposing the sale and threatens pristine watersheds and wildlife habitat, including salmon and trout streams. The Gravina roadless area contains the Bostwick Creek and Bostwick Inlet, which provides families on nearby Metlakatla Indian Reservation with as much as 70 percent of their food. "Gravina Island is Ketchikan's subsistence bread basket," said Elmer Makua of the Ketchikan Indian Corporation. "Despite the recognition that subsistence resources in this area are of enormous importance, the Forest Service is preparing to make a substantial and permanent impact through large-scale logging and road building in the area." Conservationists contend there is ample timber available for harvest in the Tongass without opening roadless areas and say the economic future of the region lies with recreation and ecotourism, not logging. The Tongass is considered by many to be the crown jewel of the national forest system. Designated a national forest in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it is the largest U.S. national forest and the largest remaining temperate rainforest on Earth. The forest consists of old growth spruce, cedar and hemlock trees and provides critical habitat for wolves, grizzly bears, wild salmon, bald eagles and other wildlife that have disappeared from other parts of the country. But much of the Tongass National Forest is not forest. Two thirds is rock, ice, wet lands and scrub timber. Over the past half century, the Tongass has lost a million acres of old-growth forest to clearcut logging and the construction of more than 4,650 access roads. According to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, these roads and timber sales have been subsidized by $30 million taxpayer dollars each year. The Forest Service faces an estimated $900 million road maintenance backlog in the Tongass.
Native Hawaiians Sue the Army to Keep Out Strykers HONOLULU, Hawaii, August 19, 2004 (ENS) - Three Native Hawaiian organizations filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army in federal court Monday over plans to transform the 2nd Brigade of the Army’s 25th Infantry Division (Light) into a brigade built around the new 24 ton Stryker fighting vehicle.The suit against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee challenges the Army’s failure to consider any location other than Hawaii for the Stryker transformation, as the organizations claim is required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In its environmental impact statement on bringing the the Strykers to Hawaii issued in May, the Army acknowledged that transforming the 2nd Brigade would destroy Native Hawaiian cultural sites, prevent the exercise of traditional practices, and harm Hawaii’s fragile and unique native ecosystems, as well as the endangered plants and animals that depend on them. The three organizations, ‘Ilio‘ulaokalani Coalition, Na ‘Imi Pono, and Kipuka, are represented by Earthjustice, the nonprofit, public interest environmental law firm. "Native Hawaiians have a unique spiritual relationship to the ‘aina [land] and as a result a kuleana [responsibility] to preserve and protect the natural and cultural resources of Hawaii for future generations," explained Vicky Holt Takamine, president of ‘Ilio‘ulaokalani. "Transformation will cut us off from these resources, these sacred sites, which are vital to the perpetuation of the Hawaiian culture." Beau Bassett of Kipuka said, "Transformation would expand military training lands on Oahu and the Big Island by over 24,000 acres, further cutting us off from cultural sites we need to access if the next generation is ever to fully understand or practice our culture." Kipuka is an association of young Native Hawaiians. The Army refused to consider any location where the transformation of the 2nd Brigade could take place in a more culturally and environmentally responsible manner. This despite the fact that the Army’s EIS identified seven major Army installations in the western United States devoted to training U.S. Army forces, including three installations already undergoing transformation to receive Stryker brigades. "For years, the community showed up at the Army’s public meetings to testify that they should look at transforming the 2nd Brigade at Fort Lewis in Washington State, where the 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade – which has already transformed into a Stryker brigade – is stationed," said William Aila of Na ‘Imi Pono, an association of Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners. "The alternatives analysis is considered the heart of the environmental impact statement because it is the key to informed decisionmaking, the basic goal of the National Environmental Policy Act,"argued Earthjustice attorney David Henkin. "Whether you think Stryker is a good idea or not, you have to agree that, before the Army carries out an project like transformation, which it admits will be environmentally destructive, it should at least look at its options to be sure that Hawaii is the best place to do it. That is what both common sense and the law require and what the Army failed to do here." The lawsuit does not seek to limit current military training at existing military facilities in Hawaii. It seeks to prevent the Army from going forward with activities related to transformation of the 2nd Brigade until the Army completes an environmental impact statement that adequately considers a range of alternate locations outside Hawaii for transformation. Stryker vehicles are already in use in military operations in Iraq.
Hecla's Idaho Mine Must Meet Water Quality Standards MULLAN, Idaho, August 19, 2004 (ENS) - The Northwest office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to deny Hecla Mining Company’s request for a variance, or relief, from water quality standards for lead, cadmium, and zinc at the company’s Lucky Friday Mine near Mullan. Wastewater from the mine is discharged to the upper South Fork Coeur d’Alene River.Hecla said the cost of installing treatment in order for their discharge to meet the water quality standards would result in substantial and widespread economic and social impacts. But the EPA says a thorough and careful review of all information showed that installation of the wastewater treatment upgrades will not cause substantial economic impacts to the company. Treatment of wastewater from the Lucky Friday mine will reduce the levels of metals entering the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River, benefiting water quality conditions and improving the ecological conditions for the existing aquatic life in the river, including a native population of westslope cutthroat trout, the EPA said. Last August the EPA issued a revised National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit to Hecla for the Lucky Friday mine. The permit limits for cadmium, lead and zinc in the revised permit are based on Idaho’s site-specific water quality criteria specifically for the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River, the agency said. Hecla appealed this permit so portions of the permit, including the metals limits, are not in effect, pending the outcome of the appeal. Hecla says it would cost $5.5 million to meet the water quality standards, a figure that the EPA believes would not present an economic hardship to the company. The agency cites a recent Hecla news release reporting cash flow from operations is the highest in 10 years. Hecla President and Chief Executive Officer Phillips S. Baker, Jr., said, "We have very low costs of production in both silver and gold, and plan to keep using our cash flow to fund the expanded exploration program and look for potential acquisitions . . . We are in the best position ever for long-term growth." Hecla also claimed that human caused pollution is so severe that the river can not recover sufficiently to support aquatic life. The company also claimed that channelization of the river resulting from surrounding urbanization has prevented attainment of a healthy aquatic ecosystem in the South Fork. But the EPA said much information exists showing that upstream of the Lucky Friday mine, a viable cold water fishery is in place. The agency says that stricter discharge limits at the mine - plus ongoing cleanup work at contaminated sites - can further enhance a healthy cold water aquatic life community. In June, the EPA did approve a variance requested by three municipal wastewater treatment plants for Page, Mullan and Smelterville which also discharge to the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River. Unlike Hecla, those facilities qualified for a variance for economic reasons. The EPA will be accepting comments on the proposed denial of Hecla’s variance request from September 1 through September 30. Contact Bill Dunbar, dunbar.bill@epamail.epa.gov
Nuclear Fuel Pieces Still Missing From Humboldt Bay SAN FRANCISCO, California, August 19, 2004 (ENS) - Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) is still searching for three missing pieces of spent nuclear fuel, company officials notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday.The company originally notified the regulatory agency of the missing fuel pieces on July 16 based on a discrepancy in records of the Humboldt Bay Power Plant (HBPP) Unit 3. The pieces are each about 18 inches long and were cut from a single spent fuel rod used in a fuel assembly in 1968. On Monday the HBPP Plant Staff Review Committee reviewed the company's search results and concluded that a "thorough and complete" search of all easily accessible spaces in the spent fuel pool had not located the missing fuel segments. Though it remains probable that the unaccounted for fuel segments will ultimately be found in the spent fuel pool or shown to have been shipped to a facility licensed to reprocess or store nuclear materials, PG&E is conservatively considering these segments as missing, the company told the regulators. Now PG&E says it has started a search of the less accessible areas of the spent fuel pool and will continue to review its plant records, nuclear materials shipping records, plant and waste repository records, and interviews of plant personnel to locate the missing fuel segments. "No evidence has been uncovered to support the possibility of theft or diversion of the unaccounted for fuel segments," the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) stated. Due to the high radioactivity of the material, to be handled safely, the segments would have to be encased in a heavy shielded container and moved with special handling equipment. Since plant start-up, HBPP has been equipped with a system of radiation monitors for the refueling building where the spent fuel pool is located with alarms capable of alerting plant personnel of the movement of highly radioactive material if the fuel segments were removed without being in a shielded container. "This could not have occurred casually without plant staff or security personnel observing the movement," the regulatory agency said. Three possible scenarios exist, the NRC reasons. The highest probability is that the fuel segments are in a spent fuel pool area that is not readily accessible, and will be located during a more detailed search of these locations. The second highest probability is that the fuel segments were shipped offsite to an appropriately controlled and restricted facility for either analysis or reprocessing. The least probable location, but not yet capable of being ruled out, is that the fuel segments were inadvertently included in a shipment to a licensed, monitored, and restricted low-level radioactive waste facility. "Since these possible locations are licensed, monitored and restricted radiological control areas, the public health and safety has not been adversely affected," the NRC said.
New Jersey Digs into Underground Storage Tank Violations TRENTON, New Jersey, August 19, 2004 (ENS) - Scandals swirling around New Jersey Governor James McGreevey's admission that he is gay have not stopped the work of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell Wednesday announced the start of a new statewide underground storage tank compliance inspection program to prevent pollution by reducing the number of leaking tanks. "Performing comprehensive underground storage tank inspections will protect our ground water resources from gasoline and other contamination," said Campbell. "Millions of New Jersey residents get their drinking water from aquifers that are vulnerable to pollution from leaking tanks." In November 2003, New Jersey voters approved a referendum requested by McGreevey to provide DEP a stable funding source of up to $2 million annually to create an underground storage tank inspection program. In New Jersey, there are more than 22,000 regulated underground storage tanks at about 8,000 facilities. State and federal laws require all owners and operators to maintain leak detection, corrosion and overfill prevention and other measures to prevent tank leaks. The DEP is establishing a group of 18 state and county inspectors to conduct compliance inspections at each facility once every three years. Owners and operators of underground storage tanks also must register their tank systems with DEP on a three year cycle. Testing and cleanup work is underway by responsible parties at more than 4,000 sites statewide where underground storage tanks have leaked resulting in soil or groundwater contamination. In the past, state underground storage tank inspections were conducted on the basis of complaints or referrals to DEP's Site Remediation Program. In addition, some county health agencies conducted inspections and were reimbursed through the DEP's County Environmental Health Act program using state Spill Fund monies. In 2003, there were 781 inspections statewide. DEP plans to fund nine county inspectors and provide training and other assistance, including specialized equipment to properly inspect underground storage tanks. DEP also is hiring nine state inspectors to conduct compliance and inspection activities out of three state field offices, including oversight and assistance to county partners. Operators and fuel transporters that disable or defeat tank system overfill devices, and fuel transporters that place fuel into tanks lacking a valid registration certificate, will also be targeted by inspectors. Defeating an overfill prevention device may cause a sudden release of flammable liquid into the environment. Placing fuel into unregistered or improperly registered tanks also risks a release to the environment as the tanks could be substandard or being operated improperly. The typical penalty for violations at commercial gas stations is $15,000, but fines can soar for wider violations.
Sacramento Supermarket Swordfish Tests High for Mercury SACRAMENTO, California, August 19, 2004 (ENS) - Albertson’s and Safeway stores in the Sacramento area are selling swordfish containing levels of mercury more than 400 percent higher than the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows, tests conducted by an environmental group have shown.In April and May, testing by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project showed mercury in swordfish sold by Sacramento area stores to be higher than the national average published by the FDA. The average sample found in Sacramento exceeded 1.5 parts per million of mercury - 50 percent over the FDA action level of one part per million. The highest sample contained mercury at concentrations over four parts per million of mercury. Environmental groups are calling on grocers and restaurants to stop selling swordfish to the public immediately. "Stores are simply ignoring the data that shows swordfish to be highly contaminated with mercury by continuing to sell it, sometimes at significantly discounted prices," says Andy Peri, an analyst for Sea Turtle Restoration Project. "It’s deeply disturbing that Sacramento area grocers are simply ignoring the health science and continuing to poison their customers." Both the Sea Turtle Restoration Project and the State of California have made attempts to protect Californians from exposure to mercury in fish by suing Safeway and other California grocers under Proposition 65, which requires warning labels for products that contain potentially hazardous substances. Proposition 65 requires grocers to post health warning signs where mercury contaminated fish is sold, but most Sacramento stores have neglected to post the signs, says Peri. "Our warning sign survey team has found that there are no signs or inadequate signs in over 65 percent of Sacramento stores." Methylmercury, the organic form of mercury found in many species of fish, is a neurotoxin that can cause nervous system and brain damage in developing fetuses, infants, and young children. The Food and Drug Administration warns pregnant women to, "protect your unborn child by not eating these large fish that can contain high levels of methylmercury: shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish." The California Attorney’s General mercury waning sign states that, "pregnant and nursing women, women who may become pregnant and young children should not eat the following fish: swordfish, shark, king mackerel, tilefish. They should also limit their consumption of other fish, including fresh or frozen tuna."
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