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Nashua, N.H. Manufacturer Fined for Hazardous Waste Violations

Release Date: 02/01/2006
Contact Information:

U.S. EPA - New England Regional Office
For Release: February 1, 2006

Contact: David Deegan, 617-918-1017

(Boston) - A manufacturer of organic chemicals in Nashua, N.H. will pay $32,000 to settle EPA claims that it violated federal hazardous waste laws by improperly diluting a hazardous waste.

According to EPA’s New England office, the Hampshire Chemical Corporation, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co., violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 2004 by failing to determine the proper treatment for a waste 40 percent monomethylamine solution and by improperly diluting the chemical with water. EPA claimed that the company improperly diluted the solution, which is an extremely flammable substance, as a substitute for the required treatment standards.

“Failing to follow federal hazardous waste laws make it more likely that dangerous materials are improperly disposed,"said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. “People working with hazardous substances should not improperly dilute wastes as a way to treat them before disposal.”

Hampshire Chemical, which formerly made organic chemicals for use in shampoos and other personal care products, discontinued manufacturing in July 2004. The company notified EPA New England that about 800 gallons of the 40 percent monomethylamine solution remained in an on-site tank after the company had stopped manufacturing operations at its Nashua facility.

The company also said it had diluted the waste with water until it comprised about 19,000 gallons of a solution that was 1.68 percent monomethylamine. The company said that it had diluted the solution so that the chemical was no long ignitable, and planned to discharge the waste through its onsite wastewater treatment system. The plant’s permit, however, did not allow this type of discharge.

Hampshire Chemical eventually sent the solution to a Clean Harbors facility in Baltimore, Maryland for proper disposal of the waste.

More information on EPA enforcement of hazardous waste laws in New England: https://www.epa.gov/region1/enforcement/waste/index.html

More information on hazardous waste in New England: https://www.epa.gov/region1/topics/cleanup/rcra.html

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