All News Releases By Date

EPA Charges Kodak with Failing to Test Valves and Pumps for Air Emissions; Seeks $303,000 Penalty

Release Date: 10/18/2000
Contact Information:

(#00193) New York, N.Y. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it has charged Rochester, New York-based Eastman Kodak Company with six counts of failing to test and monitor certain valves and pumps at its Lake Avenue facility for emissions of organic chemicals into the air. The agency is seeking a penalty of $303,064 for the violations, which it discovered after inspecting Kodak in May 1999. "The violations we identified at the Kodak facility may have led to the release of volatile organic compounds into Rochester’s air," said Jeanne M. Fox, EPA Regional Administrator. "These compounds are not only potentially harmful if inhaled, but are major contributors to smog. EPA has strict regulations in place to ensure that when companies deal with these type of chemicals in their waste streams, they do so carefully, making sure at every point in the process that volatile organics are not released into the environment." EPA’s complaint against Kodak involves 592 valves and 175 pumps at the Rochester facility that are part of a system of pipes used to carry hazardous wastes containing volatile organic compounds. The hazardous wastes are generated in Kodak’s chemical manufacturing processes. As a result of a three-day EPA inspection of Kodak and information submitted by the company at EPA’s request, the agency determined that 446 valves were not checked monthly for leaks of volatile organic compounds from December 1996 to September 1997, nor were they part of larger tests done by Kodak in December 1996 that would have made them exempt from monthly testing and subject only to quarterly testing. EPA also determined that since December 1996, when it was first required, Kodak failed to do monthly monitoring of 146 valves and make weekly visual inspections of 171 pumps used to move hazardous wastes through the pipes. Kodak apparently believed these valves and pumps were not regulated. In addition, the agency charged that Kodak did not perform annual testing of four other pumps to determine whether they had detectable emissions of volatile organic compounds, and that it failed to initially test 26 portable tanks used to store volatile hazardous wastes to make sure they had no detectable emissions. Kodak’s failure to perform these tests are violations of EPA regulations stemming from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the law that governs the management of hazardous waste. Kodak has 30 days to respond to EPA’s complaint. In addition to seeking a $303,064 penalty, EPA has ordered Kodak to comply with all RCRA requirements for managing wastes containing volatile organic compounds within 60 days. The company has the right to contest the complaint and the order.