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EPA Settles Clean Water Act Violations With Two Alaska Seafood Processors (Kenai, Atka Island)

Release Date: 06/30/2006
Contact Information: Margo Young, (206) 553-1603, [email protected] Mark MacIntyre, (206) 553-7302, [email protected]

(Anchorage, AK – June 30, 2006) As part of an ongoing campaign to protect Alaska’s water quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached settlements with two Alaskan Seafood Processors. Atka Seafoods (Atka Island, AK) and Pacific Star Seafoods (Kenai, AK) were both cited following inspections for violations of their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)permits under the federal Clean Water Act.

According to Kim Ogle, Manager of EPA’s NPDES Compliance Unit, routine inspections and taking enforcement actions as needed are critical to protecting Alaska’s water quality.

“Seafood processors need to obtain and follow federal discharge permits or face penalties,” said EPA’s Ogle. “EPA and the citizens of Alaska expect better compliance and more responsible operation in the wake of these settlements.”

Here are overviews of the cases:

Atka Pride Seafoods, Inc. - Penalty: $65,500
Violations stem from the discharge of seafood processing waste into Nazan Bay, Alaska, from 1998 through 2004, without the required National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Nazan Bay is adjacent to the Bering Sea. The plant, which operates seasonally from May through October, is located on Atka Island, which lies approximately 350 miles west of Unalaska and is the western most populated island in the Aleutian Chain.

Pacific Star Seafoods, Inc. – Penalty: $6,400
Violations included the failure to route all seafood processing wastes through a waste conveyance system, the unauthorized discharge of seafood process waste, and the failure to conduct required monitoring. The business was sold to new owners on May 13, 2005. After the sale, the new owners substantially upgraded the facility and settled the violations with EPA.

For more about EPA’s discharge permitting program, visit:
https://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/index.cfm

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