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Ten Louisiana Companies Fined for Violating the Clean Water Act

Release Date: 08/13/2009
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Anthony Suttice at 214-665-2200 or [email protected]

(Dallas, Texas – August 13, 2009) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fined ten Louisiana companies for violating federal Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations outlined under the federal Clean Water Act.

Federal inspections of the bulk oil storage facilities in May 2009 revealed a variety of violations though the violations differed at each facility: As an example: SPCC plans were not certified by a professional engineer, plans had inadequate or no description of the physical layout of the facility, and plans had inadequate or no information or procedures for reporting oil spills. Inspections and tests required by federal regulations were not in accordance with written procedures developed for the facilities, and personnel working at the sites had no training on the operation of equipment to prevent discharges, no training on discharge procedure protocols and spill prevention briefings were not scheduled and conducted periodically. The inspections also revealed that vehicle traffic was not warned of aboveground piping and oil transfer operations, containment bypass valves were not closed when not draining rainwater, and secondary containment was inadequate for mobile or portable storage tanks.

The companies inspected and fined were:

Griffin Crane & Steel Service, 38142 Highway Department Road, Pearl River LA, $1,750
Wilco Marsh Buggies & Draglines, Inc., 1304 MacArthur Avenue, Harvey LA, $1,500
Kajun Truck Plaza, 640 AO Rapellett Road, Golden Meadow LA, $1,500
Kajun Sportsman, 27900 Highway 1, Golden Meadow LA, $1,450
Chef Harbor, 21135 Chef Menteur Highway, New Orleans LA, $1,000
American Vacuum, 1232 Siracusa Road, Morgan City LA, $900
Parish Concrete, LLC, 68660 Highway 59, Mandeville LA, $900
C&M Bayou Fuel Dock, 4932 Kenal Road, Lafitte LA, $850
Ocean Marine Contractors, 9084 Highway 182 East, Morgan City LA, $800
Professional Construction Services, Inc., 5716 Hayne Boulevard, New Orleans LA, $700

As part of an Expedited Settlement Agreement with EPA, the companies have provided certification that all deficiencies have been corrected.

Additional information on SPCC regulations is available at https://www.epa.gov/oilspill

More about activities in EPA Region 6: https://www.epa.gov/region6

EPA audio file is available at https://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/aug2009.html