Hilcorp pays $223,000 EPA penalty for hazardous waste violations
SEATTLE (October 9, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that Hilcorp North Slope, LLC, will pay $223,868 for violations of the Resource Conversation and Recovery Act at their Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, facility.
Several regulatory requirements were not met by Hilcorp, including failure to make a hazardous waste determination, failure to send hazardous waste to a designated facility, failure to place waste in satellite accumulation containers, failure to mark or label hazardous waste and failure to train facility personnel.
Hilcorp cooperated during settlement negotiations and instituted new measures to prevent future violations.
“These regulations exist to protect human health and the environment,” said EPA Region 10 Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Director Ed Kowalski. “When companies fail to make an accurate hazardous waste determination and don’t label containers or maintain an accurate inventory of hazardous waste they can put their employees, the general public, and the environment in danger.”
EPA works with its federal, state, and tribal regulatory partners to assure compliance with statutes and regulations governing the management of hazardous wastes and underground storage tanks. Currently, all states and territories have been granted authority to implement the base or implement additional parts of the RCRA program with the exception of Alaska and Iowa. Most of the compliance monitoring responsibility under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is delegated to the states and local authorities. EPA provides oversight of compliance monitoring activities in the RCRA program to ensure facilities are properly inspected.
Additional details can be found in EPA's Consent Agreement with Hilcorp North Slope (pdf) .