Cascades USA settles allegations with EPA

Cascades USA, a division of the Kingsey Falls, Quebec-based paper company Cascades, has agreed to settle U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) allegations that the company violated the federal Clean Water Act at its paper mills in Maine and Connecticut.

The company’s Cascades Auburn Fiber pulp mill, in Auburn, Maine, has agreed to pay a fine of $65,000 for alleged clean water violations.

The EPA also announced that Norampac New England has agreed to pay a fine of $100,000 for alleged clean water violations at its Thompson, Connecticut, corrugated cardboard manufacturing facility.

According to allegations in a complaint filed by EPA this past summer, Cascades violated the conditions of its stormwater permit and violated the federal Oil Pollution Prevention Regulations by failing to prepare and implement a spill prevention, control and countermeasure plan.

The complaint states that stormwater control measures Cascades had in place were inadequate to prevent on-site pollutants from combining with stormwater and discharging to nearby surface waters. The company also failed to conduct certain monitoring and stormwater sampling as required by its stormwater permit.

EPA also filed a complaint against Norampac this past summer, alleging that the company violated the conditions of its stormwater permit and violated the federal Oil Pollution Prevention Regulations by failing to fully implement its spill prevention, control and countermeasure plan. According to the complaint, the facility failed to implement best management practices described in its stormwater pollution prevention plan related to site maintenance, failed to conduct certain inspections and failed to take certain corrective measures after learning of benchmark sampling exceedances.