Settlement to reduce discharges of seafood…
Settlement to reduce discharges of
seafood processing waste by more than 100 million pounds
annually
(Seattle–Sept. 28, 2011)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced that
Trident Seafoods Corp., one of the world’s largest seafood
processors, has agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty and
invest millions in seafood processing waste controls to settle
alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Unauthorized
discharges of seafood processing waste lead to large seafood waste
piles on the seafloor, creating anoxic, or oxygen-depleted,
conditions that result in unsuitable habitats for fish and other
living organisms.
“Today’s settlement is truly a
‘game changer’,” said Dennis McLerran, EPA
Regional Administrator in Seattle. “Trident is definitely
changing course and seriously investing in waste management and
increased fish meal plant capacity. We share Trident’s view
that this settlement will be better for the environment as well as
their bottom line. We’re establishing a new 'best management
practices' yardstick for Alaska’s seafood processing
industry.”
“This agreement will benefit the quality
of Alaskan waters, which host a critical habitat for the seafood
industry,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general
for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural
Resources Division. “The upgrades will enable Trident to
achieve and maintain compliance with the Clean Water Act, and will
protect Alaskan waters, eliminate waste and create efficiencies
that will serve as a model of best business practices for the
seafood processing industry.”
The agreement requires Trident to invest an
estimated $30-40 million, and potentially more, in source control
and waste pile remediation measures. The source control measures
include building a fishmeal plant in Naknek, Alaska, that will have
the capacity to handle at least 30 million pounds of seafood
processing waste annually, taking in both its own fish waste and
potentially that of other local processors. Trident has also agreed
to reduce the amount of seafood processing waste discharged from
the Akutan, Cordova, St. Paul and Ketchikan, Alaska, facilities and
monitor the amount of seafood processing waste discharged into
Starrigavan Bay in Sitka, Alaska. The actions taken will reduce
Trident’s fish processing discharges by a total of more than
105 million pounds annually.
The company has also agreed to remediation
measures including studying seafloor waste piles at Trident’s
facilities in Akutan, Ketchikan and Cordova. Based on the results
of these studies, Trident will remove or partially remediate the
piles. One seafood processing waste pile in Akutan Harbor is
currently estimated to be more than 50 acres in size.
The EPA complaint, also filed as part of this
legal action, alleges that Trident had more than 480 CWA violations
at 14 of its on-shore and off-shore Alaskan seafood processing
facilities. The alleged violations include discharging without a
necessary permit, exceeding discharge limits, failing to comply
with permit restrictions on discharge locations (including
discharges into at least two National Wildlife Refuges), creating
oxygen-depleting “zones of deposit” or underwater piles
of fish processing waste occupying more than the allowed one acre
of seafloor. The company also allegedly failed to conduct required
monitoring and implement required best management
practices.
Over the past decade, Trident has been a party
to multiple administrative enforcement agreements and judicial
consent decrees resolving similar violations at many of the same
facilities.
The settlement was lodged in federal court in Seattle, Wash. and is
subject to a 30-day public comment period.
More information on the settlement and a copy of
the consent decree:
http://epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/cwa/tridentseafoods.html