EPA Orders Grimmel Industries to Address Polluted Water Discharges

The Region 1 office of the Environmental Protection Agency has issued an enforcement order to Grimmel Industries, a scrap metal recycler located in Portsmouth, N.H., over discharges of polluted stormwater and other pollutant discharges. According to the EPA, Grimmel’s discharges violated the Clean Water Act.

Grimmel, headquartered in Maine, leases the property from Pease Development Authority (PDA), a New Hampshire agency. Monitoring by PDA shows the stormwater discharges from Grimmel’s scrap yard contain metals, suspended solids and other materials that result in discharges exceeding permit benchmarks. The EPA also notes that the stormwater discharges contain mercury and PCBs, causing or contributing to environmental levels to exceed water quality standards. Because of mercury and PCBs in fish and shellfish, New Hampshire has issued an advisory limiting consumption of salt-water fish as well as lobster.

According to an EPA release, Grimmel applied late for the multi-sector general permit for stormwater discharges associated with industrial activity. According to the EPA, Grimmel Industries violated the permit by failing to perform required inspections or sampling; and did not take corrective actions and the required review of its Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan to address the excessive pollution it discharged. In addition, 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.

The EPA order requires 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.