(San Juan, P.R. - August 19, 2008) EPA has issued administrative complaints against three federal government entities over violations related to the management of underground storage tanks (USTs) in Puerto Rico. EPA issued an 11-count complaint to the Puerto Rico National Guard and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at Camp Santiago in Salinas, P.R. EPA also issued a complaint against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for alleged violations of the Solid Waste Disposal Act at two facilities in Puerto Rico.

Release date: 08/12/2008 Contact Information: Mary Simms, (415) 760-5419, simms.mary@epa.gov $100 Million Privatized Cleanup Effort Will Address Dangerous Munitions and Explosives Simultaneously During Redevelopment
WHAT: No longer an infantry training area, Northern California's Fort Ord Army post has quickly become a national model for how to expedite cleanup and reuse activities. An innovative legal framework coupled with an aggressive cleanup strategy will allow for rapid cleanup and redevelopment of the Fort Ord area, in Monterey Calif. Through its pioneering cleanup approach, extensive public involvement program, and close regulatory interface, the program will save millions of dollars while continuing to advance property reuse.

WHY: With Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's concurrence on the early transfer package, an event this evening will celebrate and mark the transfer of the final 3,337 acres to the local community at this closing 28,000 acre installation.

(Los Angeles – July 28, 2008) Under the terms of a recently signed interagency agreement, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will perform a radiological background study at the Santa Susana Field Lab, located near Los Angeles, Calif., using $1.5 million provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition to the radiological study, the EPA will develop a scope of work, schedule, and cost estimate for a radiological survey of a 290 acre portion of the site referred to as Area IV and the adjacent buffer zone.

(Seattle, Washington – June 9, 2008) The Department of Energy and CH2M Hill, their cleanup contractor for the Hanford Facility, have agreed to pay a $6800 penalty to the United States Environmental Protection Agency for failing to immediately notify the National Response Center following a spill of radioactive waste at the Facility in 2007. In addition to the penalty, the Company will spend $24,000 to provide new equipment for local emergency responders.

(Washington State Dept of Ecology, April 24) - The Department of Energy has agreed to a $250,000 fine imposed by the Washington Department of Ecology in connection with a spill of 80 gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste during waste retrieval work on underground single-shell storage tanks in July 2007 at the Hanford Site. The violations of the cleanup agreement involved inadequate engineering design and faulty engineering reviews of the systems being used to move waste out of the single-shell underground tanks--many of which are leaking--into double-shell tanks. The remaining $250,000 from the original fine of $500,000 will be suspended as long as the Energy Department and contractor take corrective actions and complete one year and 360 hours of tank waste retrieval without similar incidents.

PHILADELPHIA (April 3, 2008) – The U.S. Army's Transportation Center at Fort Eustis, located at Newport News, Va., has settled alleged violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

Boston, Mass. – April 1, 2008) – The U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton Conn., will pay a cash penalty and perform an additional environment project, in settlement of EPA allegations of improper storage and management of hazardous wastes. Under the settlement, the Base will pay $37,059 in penalties, and will undertake a $114,000 project to install solar-powered air conditioning in a storage bay where ignitable hazardous wastes are stored, within the Base's permitted hazardous waste treatment and storage facility. The air conditioning required in the settlement will help keep the storage bay from becoming overheated. An overheated storage bay could pose a hazard associated with ignitable hazardous wastes.

(San Juan, P.R.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today the finalization of a federal facility inter-agency agreement (FFA) with several agencies and jurisdictions for the cleanup of portions of the Island of Vieques and its surrounding waters. The agreement is between EPA, the U.S. Department of Navy, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and it lays out the roles that the various agencies will play as the cleanup continues. EPA's Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg was joined by Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy Donald R. Schregardus, as well as Carlos W. López Freytes, President of the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board and Susan Silander, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Project Leader for the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex, at EPA's offices in San Juan, Puerto Rico to mark the finalization of the agreement.

The U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Architect of the Capitol, the National Park Service, and the Fort Myer Military Community have been cited by the EPA for primarily failing to test for fuel leaks from USTs. The inspections performed by EPA at these facilities were required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which mandated that all federal USTs, not inspected since December 1998, be inspected by the August 2007 deadline. In 2007, 11 UST violations at federal facilities in the U.S. were settled for a total civil penalty of $48,288. These enforcement actions prevented 72,775 gal of contaminants from release into soil and groundwater. In settlement agreements with EPA, the cited agencies neither admitted nor denied liability for the alleged violations, but did certify compliance with applicable UST regulations.

U.S. EPA settles action against the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) for violations of hazardous waste rules regarding fluorescent light bulb disposal at a GSA building on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. GSA agreed to complete arrangements within one year to recycle the various kinds of mercury- and other toxic metal-containing bulbs used in 50 buildings, and pay a $23,000 penalty for the violations.

EPA and the U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) won an Environmental Business Journal, Business Achievement Award for developing a region-wide waste tracking system as the supplemental environmental project (SEP) in an EPA enforcement action. The EPA-VA demonstrated "uncommon willingness and ability to treat obstacles as challenges and not barriers" in the development of a system that comprehensively tracks chemical purchase, use, storage and disposal at the VA New England facilities. If successful, the management system could be applied to other VA hospitals and health centers across the country. For more information please go to: http://ebiusa.com/EBJAwards.html.

(Seattle, Wash. – December 20, 2007) – Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA) and its project contractor, Wheeler Electric, have agreed to pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency $61,000 for mishandling waste contaminated with Polychlorinated bi-phenyls (PCBs) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), near Arco, Idaho.

(Philadelphia, PA - December 5, 2007) The Perry Point Veterans Administration Medical Center will pay a $9,865 penalty to settle a lawsuit alleging underground storage tank violations. The medical center includes both a hospital and nursing home in Perry Point, Md.

(Atlanta, Ga. – November 21, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a major step toward cleaning up Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Fla., by compelling the Air Force to properly conduct the cleanup. EPA is issuing an Order under Section 7003(a) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which requires the Air Force to investigate contamination at the base and take action to clean it up.

(Richland, Wash. – Nov. 20, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have reached an agreement to address violations of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (commonly referred to as the Tri-Party Agreement or TPA). The violations by DOE and its contractor, Washington Closure Hanford, LLC (WCH), occurred at the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility or ERDF landfill at the Hanford Superfund site, located in eastern Washington.

(Washington, D.C. - Nov. 15, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement program achieved historic results to protect the nation's air, water, and land in fiscal year 2007. Industries, government agencies and other regulated entities agreed to spend a record $10.6 billion in pollution controls and environmental projects, exceeding the previous record of $10.2 billion set in 2005.

(Boston, Mass. –November 7, 2007) Recent EPA inspections at the John W. McCormack building in downtown Boston identified noncompliance issues with Clean Air Act regulations regarding the proper handling and disposal of asbestos materials in demolition and renovation operations.

(Seattle, Wash. – Nov.1, 2007) Fluor-Hanford (Fluor), the primary clean-up contractor at the Department of Energy's Hanford Reservation, and Twin City Metals(TCM), a Richland, Washington, metal recycler, have agreed to pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a combined total of $84,800 in penalties for mis-handling PCB-contaminated transformers.

PHILADELPHIA (October 11, 2007) – The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Federal Prison Industries have paid a $38,100 penalty to settle a lawsuit alleging hazardous waste and Clean Air Act violations at the Lewisburg Federal Prison, in Union Co., Pa.

(Portland, Oregon - Oct. 24, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued an Order to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), to provide a framework for the ongoing environmental investigation at the U.S. Moorings facility, located within the Portland Harbor Superfund Site. The Unilateral Administrative Order was issued Tuesday under Section 3013(a) of the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a proposed federal facility inter-agency agreement (FFA) with several agencies and jurisdictions for the cleanup work on the Island of Vieques in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The proposed agreement is between EPA, the U.S. Department of Navy, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Commonwealth. The agencies will take input from the public on the agreement for 45 days and make any necessary adjustments before finalizing it.

PHILADELPHIA (August 27, 2007) - Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the Department of the Army to move forward with the cleanup of 14 hazardous waste sites on the Fort George G. Meade military base in Anne Arundel County, MD, and adjacent property previously transferred by the Army to the U.S. Department of Interior and now part of the Patuxent Research Refuge.

(Boston, Mass. - Aug. 2, 2007) - Two contractors for a construction site at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn. are liable for $17,000 in penalties for violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

PHILADELPHIA (July 24, 2007) – More than a dozen federal prisons -- housing an estimated 20,000 inmates in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia -- will undergo an environmental check to see if they are meeting regulations for controlling air and water pollution, hazardous waste and other environmental risks.

(July 13, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking a major step toward a cleanup of the McGuire Air Force Base in New Hanover Township, New Jersey by compelling the Air Force to conduct the cleanup. EPA is ordering the Air Force to study contamination at its base and take steps to clean it up. This far-reaching order spells out the timeframe for the steps, from study to cleanup measures. Along with the technical work that needs to be done, the Air Force will be required to develop a plan of work with the surrounding community to get input into the process.

(July 13, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today ordered the Raytheon Company and the U.S. Air Force to clean up a migrating plume of contaminated groundwater at the Tucson International Airport Area Superfund Site.

Bethesda, MD (June 4, 2007) In a ceremony held today in Bethesda, MD, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s leading medical research agency, for its environmental stewardship in reducing mercury and promoting resource conservation principles that will better protect human health and the environment.

(April 23, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Region 9) has ordered the Navy to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act at its naval auxiliary landing field on San Clemente Island, located off the coast of San Diego, California. The order requires the Navy to reduce levels of total trihalomethanes - byproducts of the water disinfection process – in the drinking water system that serves approximately 700 people on the island.

(March 27, 2007) EPA Region 10 (Seattle) has calculated stipulated penalties totaling $1.14 million against the U.S. Department of Energy for violations of the Hanford cleanup agreement.

(January 26, 2007) The U.S. EPA reached an agreement with the U.S. Navy that will govern all current and future environmental cleanup work at the former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads base in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which closed in March 2004. The agreement follows a process in which EPA and the Navy held a public meeting and received and responded to multiple public comments.

(January 24, 2007) In a settlement with EPA, the U.S. Veterans Administration Healthcare System has committed to implement a comprehensive hazardous waste and chemicals management inventory system at all Veterans Administration (“VA") facilities in New England. The VA is developing the system to settle a 2005 EPA enforcement action for hazardous waste violations at the VA’s medical center in White River Junction, Vermont.

(12/05/2006) The U.S. EPA recently ordered KBR Inc. and the U.S. Department of the Navy to reduce the levels of total trihalomethanes - byproducts of water disinfection - from drinking water available at the Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif.

(November 8, 2006) In a settlement with the U.S. EPA, McGuire Air Force Base in New Hanover Township, New Jersey has agreed to comply with federal requirements to prevent leaks of underground storage tank (UST) systems at the base. The U.S. Air Force, New Jersey Air National Guard and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service will also pay a penalty of $115,000 for the violations.