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EPA Orders Braintree Hazardous Waste Co. to Pay $21,450 for For Violating PCB Laws

Release Date: 10/02/2000
Contact Information: Amy Miller, EPA Press Office (617-918-1042)

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered a Braintree company to pay $21,450 for three violations of the law regulating polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs), which are considered probable carcinogens.

According to an administrative complaint signed last week, Clean Harbors of Braintree violated the law regulating PCBs on three occasions - twice by failing to complete proper documentation when shipping waste containing PCBs and once by distributing the waste without a required exemption.

Clean Harbors in 1998 paid a penalty of $825 for improperly marking a PCB container and PCB transformer. Also that year Clean Harbors of Connecticut paid $27,000 for improper documentation and distribution of PCB waste.

"By failing to follow the rules around distribution and disposal of PCBs, Clean Harbors put the public and environment at risk," said Mindy S. Lubber, Regional Administrator of EPA New England.

The action against Clean Harbors stems from a call from the company in which it notified EPA that 15 drums of regulated waste it had shipped had been rejected after the recipient, Stablex Canada, determined it contained PCBs at a concentration of more than 50 parts per million, the threshold amount triggering stricter EPA regulations.