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EPA Proposes $137,500 Penalty Against Oil Company for Violating Oil Spill Laws

Release Date: 10/05/2000
Contact Information: Amy Miller (617) 918-1042

BOSTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced it has proposed a $137,500 penalty against an oil company in eastern Massachusetts manufacturer for failing to prepare a plan for handling oil spills.

According to an administrative complaint, the Concord Oil Company failed to prepare and implement a Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) plan at four of its five facilities, all of them near rivers or streams.

The action against the Concord-based company stems from an inspection in May 1999 of the Depot Road facility in Harvard, when inspectors learned the facility did not have an SPCC plan. In April 2000 EPA sent a letter requesting information on company operations and determined the company still did not have a spill prevention plan.

"Spill prevention and control laws help ensure that a tank failure or spill does not lead to oil being released into rivers and streams," said Mindy S. Lubber, Regional Administrator of EPA New England. "Concord Oil's failure to develop these plans increased the possibility that large amounts of oil would reach these bodies of water. This penalty should serve as a reminder that the EPA takes seriously a company's responsibility to the environment."

The four facilities are at:

• Depot Road in Harvard, with a capacity of 30,000 gallons of fuel oil near Cold Spring Brook, a tributary of the Nasua River;
• 147 Lowell Road in Concord, with an above ground storage capacity of 145,900 gallons of fuel oil, gas and kerosene near the Concord River;
• 68 Central St. in Acton, with above-ground storage capacity of 290,000 gallons of fuel oil near the Fort Pond Brook;
• 23 Forge Village Road in Westford, with an above-ground storage capacity of 20,000 gallons of fuel oil near Boutwell Brook