News Release
T – 08 – 11
Leonard E. Robinson, Acting Director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2011
Contact: Jim Marxen
(916) 869-5056
DTSC issues hazardous waste enforcement order to Kettleman
Facility
SACRAMENTO – The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) today ordered Chemical Waste Management (CWM) facility in Kettleman City, a California facility permitted to dispose of or treat hazardous waste, to pay $46,000 in penalties for failure to report releases of hazardous waste. The order also requires the facility to fully comply with spill reporting conditions in its hazardous waste permit.
The releases at the CWM facility in Kettleman City were discovered as a result of joint inspections by the DTSC and United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in 2010.
DTSC penalized CWM for violating its hazardous waste facility permit by failing to report the discovery of PCB releases orally and in writing. The permit requires verbal notification within 24 hours, and written notification within 10 days of the discovery of the release.
The violations were discovered between February and July 2010.
In October 2010 DTSC issued a Corrective Action Order that required CWM to clean up the PCB contamination. The following month the USEPA fined the facility $300,000 for failing to properly manage the PCBs. The contamination was contained onsite. DTSC has no evidence to suggest that the spills posed any danger to nearby communities.
PCBs are a toxic mixture of chemicals, banned since the 1970s. They were once used in transformers and other electrical equipment. PCBs can be toxic to the liver and skin, and have been linked to cancer.
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FOR GENERAL INQUIRIES: Contact the Department of Toxic Substances Control by phone at (800) 728-6942 or visit www.dtsc.ca.gov. To report illegal handling, discharge, or disposal of hazardous waste, call the Waste Alert Hotline at (800) 698-6942.
The mission of DTSC is to protect California’s people and environment from harmful effects of toxic substances by restoring contaminated properties, enforcing hazardous waste law, reducing hazardous waste generation, and encouraging the manufacture of chemically safer products.