All News Releases By Date

EPA Files Complaint Seeking Penalties From Belmont Electroplating Company

Release Date: 06/19/2002
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office, 617-918-1008

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today filed an administrative complaint seeking $621,644 in civil penalties from the Cambridge Plating Co., a Belmont-based electroplater, for violations of federal air and hazardous waste laws.

The complaint is the latest in a series of actions EPA has taken since discovering extensive violations of hazardous waste and air pollution requirements at the company's facility during inspections conducted in April 2000, September 2000 and February 2001.

"This proposed penalty stems from violations discovered last year and in 2000, but it does not cover additional hazardous waste violations that have occurred in recent weeks and which are still being investigated by EPA," said Samuel Silverman, director of EPA New England's Office of Environmental Stewardship.

EPA had earlier directed the company to correct Clean Air Act violations through an order issued on May 11, 2001. In addition, EPA and company reached agreement in November 2001 that the company would establish an environmental management system (EMS) and undergo annual compliance audits to be performed by an independent firm.

However, EPA's claims for penalties for the violations had remained unresolved. EPA and Cambridge Plating were close to signing a settlement agreement to resolve these claims when the company's facility caught fire early in the morning on May 25, 2002.

In a letter sent yesterday to company President Dyanne Tosi, EPA stated that the prior planned settlement agreement has now been put on hold by the EPA for two reasons.

First, the EPA wants to make sure that the Cambridge Plating facility is being operated safely prior to finalizing any settlement agreement. The recent fire was the fifth to occur at the facility or in surrounding buildings, and the EPA has called for the company to do a plant-wide safety study to reduce such risks in the future.

Second, following the May 25 fire, Cambridge Plating committed new violations of RCRA hazardous waste requirements, according to the EPA letter signed by Silverman. These violations included pumping wastewater to a temporary tank in the facility's parking lot without having determined whether the wastewater was hazardous and without following hazardous waste management requirements. The company's premature resumption of operations following the fire also resulted in hazardous wastewater overflowing onto the facility's basement room floor.

Silverman said he was "very disappointed" that the company resumed operations May 28 and May 29 following the fire without first consulting with the EPA and without fully complying with RCRA requirements. "While the EMS was still under development at the time of the fire, the company's new failure to comply is not a good sign," Silverman said in the two-page letter.

The filing of the complaint does not preclude the continuation of settlement negotiations between the EPA and Cambridge Plating. However, the complaint sets the level of penalties that the EPA will seek if no new agreement is reached.