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EPA SETTLES ACTION AGAINST OAKWOOD HOMES CORPORATION FOR ALLEGED VIOLATIONS OF THE EMERGENCY PLANNING AND COMMUNITY RIGHT-TO-KNOW ACT

Release Date: 07/31/2002
Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, EPA Press Relations, 404-562-8421

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today the settlement of a complaint against Oakwood Homes Corporation in Greensboro, North Carolina for alleged violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). The Consent Agreement and Final Order requires Oakwood Homes Corporation to pay a civil penalty of $189,110. Alleged violations occurred at the following Oakwood facilities: Plant 1-2-4: 131 Rhea Street, Richfield, North Carolina Plant 3: US Highway 2 South, Pinebluff, North Carolina Plant 5-6: 1 Viscount Road, Rockwell, North Carolina Plant 7: 508 Palmer Road, Rockwell North Carolina Plant 16-17-20: 497 Industrial Drive, Moultrie, Georgia The Complaint alleged that Oakwood failed to submit a completed emergency and hazardous chemical inventory form for propane present at Plants 1-2-4, 3, and 5-6 for 1996 and 1997 to the Local Emergency Planning Committee, the State Emergency Response Commission and the appropriate fire department by March 1 of the following year as required. The Agreement also alleges that Oakwood violated reporting requirements by failing to submit forms for diisocyanates to EPA and to the State of North Carolina by the respective due dates at Plants 1-2-4; 3; 5-6; and 7 in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and at Plant 16-17-20 in 1997 and 1998. EPCRA requires annual reports to the EPA and the State from manufacturing facilities with 10 or more employees that use or manufacture certain toxic chemicals over a specified threshold amount. The reports provide estimates of the amounts of each toxic chemical released to the environment, treated or recycled on-site, or transferred off-site to another facility. Each year the EPA publishes a report entitled the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Public Data Release which summarizes the prior years submissions and provides detailed trend analysis of toxic chemical releases. A copy of the TRI Public Data Release can be obtained by calling the EPA's toll-free Community Right-to-Know Hotline at (800) 535-0202. Environmental databases, including TRI data, can also be accessed via the Internet by visiting U.S. EPA Envirofacts Warehouse Home Page at www.epa.gov/enviro.