PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 6, 2011) - Three companies…
The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency have reached a settlement with
Hercules Inc. and GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc. who have agreed to
pay a $700,000 penalty for alleged violations of several federal
environmental laws. In an earlier January 2011 settlement, Eastman
Specialty Chemicals, Inc., which owned and operated a portion of
the facility, agreed to pay a $365,500 penalty for alleged
violations related to its operations at the plant.
The Franklin Plant, which is adjacent to the
banks of Nottoway River, manufactured chemicals for the paper and
printing industry. In the 1990’s, Hercules, the original
owner of the plant, sold parts of the facility to Eastman and GEO.
Eastman and GEO also manufactured chemicals at the facility. GEO
sold its operations and Eastman closed a significant portion of its
operations at the plant in 2009.
Along with the settlement papers, the United
States filed a complaint against Eastman in the spring and a joint
complaint against Hercules and GEO last week alleging environmental
violations related to their individual operations at the Franklin
plant. Violations include: deficient oil spill prevention and
control plans; deficient facility plans to respond to emergency
spills; inadequate oil spill response drills and exercises;
unlawful oil discharges into the Nottoway River; inadequate oil
storage tank “secondary containment”; failure to make
required hazardous waste determinations; inadequate plant lighting;
failure to report the storage of lead acid batteries; and
unpermitted operation of the sodium hydroxide rail car storage
area.
The Justice Department will file both
settlements in the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, which has jurisdiction over Northern
Virginia, Hampton Roads and Richmond metro areas.