U.S. EPA orders Western Environmental to stop noxious odors coming from its Mecca, Calif. facility (CA)
(05/9/11) SAN
FRANCISCO – Today, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency ordered Western Environmental Inc.
to take immediate steps to address potentially harmful emissions
coming from its Mecca, Calif. waste handling facility. The facility
is located on the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians
Reservation.
Western Environmental’s facility handles
solid, semi-solid and liquid waste, including petroleum
contaminated soil and biosolids from sewage treatment plants.
Mounds of untreated contaminated soil have accumulated at the site
and now stand more than forty feet high.
“To protect the local community including
nearby schools, EPA has ordered Western Environmental to take
immediate action to eliminate this potential health threat,”
said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the
Pacific Southwest. "The order requires the facility to stop
accepting any additional contaminated soils or biosolids without
prior EPA approval."
In December 2010, after receiving complaints of
odors that sent people to the hospital, the Air District and the
Riverside County Department of Environmental Health dispatched
staff to perform air sampling in the community and at the facility.
EPA is working closely with the Cabazon Tribe, the State of
California and the South Coast Air Quality Management District to
coordinate response actions.
Today’s order, issued under the authority
of the federal Resource Conservation & Recovery Act, follows a
more recent spate of odor complaints and a public meeting in Mecca
on April 28, 2011 where EPA officials heard directly from community
members about the odors’ impacts on their
health.
The EPA Administrative Order against Western
Environmental and a related company, Waste Reduction Technologies,
sets forth immediate measures and a schedule to control the source
of odors from the Western Environmental facility. The order
requires the facility to use stabilizing agents or cover sheeting
on the stockpiled material to prevent the release of noxious air
emissions.
For more information, including a copy of the
EPA’s Adminstrative Order, please visit:
http://www.epa.gov/region9/waste/enforcement/western-enviro/index.html
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