Excel Recycling LLC, South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, has been penalized $15,100 by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) regarding an oil spill on its property. MassDEP contends the company failed to notify MassDEP and conduct timely cleanup actions for a waste oil spill at its Charlton, Massachusetts, facility. Excel also has scrap metal facilities in Salem and Westport, Massachusetts.
On March 6, 2013, during an unrelated inspection, the Charlton Fire Department observed oil spreading across the company’s yard and traced it back to several scrap underground storage tanks (USTs). The USTs had been brought to the facility to be recycled and should have been empty, however two of the tanks contained about 150 gallons of waste oil.
MassDEP responded to the site, met with the facility operator and fire department and determined that a cleanup was necessary. Upon further investigation, MassDEP determined that Excel Recycling discovered the spill on March 4, 2013, but did not take action or report it to MassDEP until the fire department discovered the oil two days later.
MassDEP oversaw the work of Excel Recycling and its contractor to ensure that the spill was contained and the cleanup completed. The company has revised its facility spill plan, conducted employee training to minimize the potential for accepting contaminated scrap in the future and agreed to the $15,100 penalty.
The company paid $3,250 of the fine to the commonwealth; $9,750 of the penalty was directed toward purchasing spill response equipment for the Charlton Fire Department as a part of a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP); and the remaining $2,100 has been suspended pending finalization of the SEP and no further environmental violations for a year.
“Timely notification of sudden oil releases enables MassDEP to ensure that cleanup response is started as quickly as possible,” says Lee Dillard Adams, director of MassDEP's Central Regional Office in Worcester.