The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued an enforcement order to Grimmel Industries LLC on discharges of polluted stormwater and other pollutant discharges at the company’s scrap yard in Portsmouth, N.H. According to the EPA, the discharges are a violation of the federal government’s Clean Water Act.
Grimmel is headquartered in Topsham, Maine, but the company has operated at the Portsmouth location since February, 2002.
Monitoring by the Pease Development Authority, which leases Grimmel the property where the scrap yard operates, showed stormwater discharges from Grimmel’s facility contained metals, suspended solids and chemical oxygen demand, which exceeded permit benchmarks. Furthermore, the EPA says stormwater discharges contained mercury and PCBs that cause or contribute to an exceedance of water quality standards.
In its citation, the EPA says Grimmel Industries applied late for the Multi-sector General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Industrial Activity. In violation of the Multi-sector General Permit, Grimmel did not perform the required inspections or sampling, and did not take corrective actions and the required review of its Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan to address the problems with the water quality standards.
In addition, EPA states Grimmel Industries has an unpermitted discharge caused by spraying scrap metal piles with water to suppress dust. The company discharges its stormwater and dust suppressant wastewater to the Piscataqua River.
Due to the problems, the EPA is requiring Grimmel to terminate its unpermitted discharge, begin sampling its stormwater discharges and develop and implement a plan to reduce contaminant levels in its stormwater discharge.
Because the company is an operator of a facility that sought to discharge pollutants to a water of the United States, the company was required by the Clean Water Act to apply for a permit to discharge. The permit imposes limits to the amount of pollutants that the company may discharge. Companies that fail to comply with such permit limits risk facing substantial penalties.
EPA inspected Grimmel Industries after receiving correspondence and relevant data from the New Hampshire office of the Conservation Law Foundation.
Grimmel Industries is facing $532,000 in penalties.