October 2007 Enforcement Action Summary

Formal Enforcement Actions Issued

Formal Enforcement Actions Settled or Resolved

Superior Court Actions Issued

Superior Court Actions Settled or Resolved

This report includes formal enforcement actions issued or resolved by the Office of Compliance & Inspection for the month of September 2007. This report is intended to inform the public of certain compliance/enforcement activities performed in the preceding month to protect the public's health, safety, welfare and the environment.

Formal Enforcement actions are taken to achieve compliance with law/regulations; remediate environmental damage; restore natural resources to appropriate conditions; impose penalties that capture the gravity of the situation and any economic benefit gained by the alleged violator; and deter similar actions in the future. Formal enforcement is generally in the form of a Notice of Violation ("NOV") that alleges certain facts and violations, contains orders to resolve the alleged violations, contains an assessed penalty with supporting documentation regarding what factors RIDEM used to determine the penalty, and, by law, allows a respondent the ability to appeal or contest the NOV to the Department's Administrative Adjudication Division ("AAD"). Since most NOVs are contested cases, RIDEM does not generally discuss the case with the public while the matter is awaiting hearing or pending negotiated settlement. NOVs are subject to release under the Access to Public Records law in Rhode Island. A copy of an individual NOV may be obtained through RIDEM's Office of Customer and Technical Assistance. The OC&I often resolves formal enforcement actions through negotiated settlement agreements prior to hearing before the AAD.

Media inquiries should be addressed to Gail Mastrati at 401-222-4700 ext. 2402. Requests for file reviews should be emailed to dem.filereview@dem.ri.gov. More information is available at www.dem.ri.gov/programs/customertech/file-review.php. Please note that formal case names appearing in blue text are linked to a PDF version of the unsigned document.

Formal Enforcement Actions Issued:

October 17, 2007 - OC&I/OC&/Water Pollution File No. 2007 434 WP x-ref WP 07-63 and OC&I/ISDS File No. CI07-78 re: Extra Space of Johnston LLC and Johnston Storage Associates, LLC for property located at 1815 Plainfield Pike, Assessor's Plat 27, Lots 143 and 153 in the Town of Johnston. Assessor's Plat 27, Lot 143 includes a commercial self storage business known as Extra Space Storage, and Assessor's Plat 27, Lot 153 includes a three-bedroom single family dwelling and office. The Property is owned by Johnston Storage Associates, LLC. The OC& alleges that the Respondents are in violation of the Water Pollution Act, RIDEM's Underground Injection Control Regulations, and RIDEM's Rules and Regulations Establishing Minimum Standards Relating to Location, Design, Construction and Maintenance of Individual Sewage Disposal Systems. The violations pertain to the construction of an underground injection control ("UIC") system to treat storm water from the property without DEM approval and an overflow of sewage to the surface of the ground from a failed individual sewage disposal system ("ISDS"). On April 25, 2007 OC& inspected the property and spoke with the manager. The manager informed OC& that the storm water discharges into a sub-surface piping system. The OC& inspector also observed that sewage was and/or had been discharged to the surface of the ground from the ISDS for the dwelling/office. On May 8, 2007 OC& issued a Notice of Intent to Enforce ("NOI") to Johnston Storage Associates, LLC ("JSA"). The NOI required JSA to submit an application to the Office of Water Resources ("OWR") to either continue to operate the UIC system or close the UIC system. The NOI also required JSA to reduce the discharge of sewage to the ISDS through the use of water conservation devices, arrange to have the ISDS pumped by a licensed septage hauler as needed to prevent overflows, have the ISDS inspected to determine the cause of the failure, and repair the ISDS. On May 14, 2007 an application for repair of the ISDS was submitted by Extra Space of Johnston, LLC to OWR and was approved by OWR on May 23, 2007. To date, the Respondents have not fully complied with the NOI by completing the repair to the ISDS and submitting an application to OWR for the UIC system. In the NOV, OC&I ordered the Respondents to reduce the discharge of sewage to the ISDS, arrange to have the ISDS pumped by a licensed septage hauler, complete all work on the ISDS in accordance with the approved application, and submit an application to OWR to operate or close the UIC system. OC&I assessed an administrative penalty of $5,600.00.



October 18, 2007 - OC&I/I/OPC File No. 07 - 442 re: Mongeon Realty, Inc. for property located at 1056 Eddie Dowling Highway, Assessor's Plat 17, Lot 90 in the Town of North Smithfield. The Respondent operates a car dealership and associated parking lot at this location. OC&I alleges that the Respondent violated Rhode Island's Water Pollution Act and RIDEM's Oil Pollution Control Regulations. On March 24, 2007 RIDEM responded to a traffic accident at the Property involving a tractor trailer truck that had veered into the car dealership's parking lot. The accident resulted in the release of diesel fuel from the truck that flowed onto the parking lot and around the rear of the car dealership building for approximately 200 feet. An oil spill removal contractor was hired by the transportation company to remove the contaminated soil from the property. The removal contractor excavated, stockpiled and covered the contaminated soil in preparation for removal and recycling the contaminated soil. The violation pertains to Respondent's failure to allow the removal contractor to re-enter the property to remove the contaminated soil from the property. In the NOV, the OC&I cited the Respondent for discharging oil into or upon the land of the state except by regulation or permit from the Director and for storage of oil spill cleanup debris for more than 30 days without approval from the RIDEM. A penalty in the amount of $2,500.00 was assessed for Respondent's noncompliance.



October 19, 2007 - OC&I/Freshwater Wetlands File No. C03-276 re: William and Cynthia Hundertmark for property located immediately west of Kyle Street, behind house number 4, approximately 250 feet southwest of the intersection of Kyle Street and Peck Lane, Assessor's Plat 15, Lot 31, in the Town of Barrington. The Property is owned by the Respondents. The OC& alleges that the Respondents are in violation of the Freshwater Wetland Act and RIDEM's Freshwater Wetland Regulations. The violation pertains to clearing and maintaining a lawn within a 100-Foot Riverbank Wetland that has resulted in the alteration of approximately 5,000 square feet of freshwater wetland. On December 15, 2003 OC& issued a Notice of Intent to Enforce ("NOIE") to the Respondents requiring restoration of the freshwater wetland. On October 25, 2004 and November 15, 2006 OC& re-inspected the property and found that the restoration requirements had not been completed and the cleared area was still being maintained as lawn. On March 18, 2005 and April 20, 2007 OC& issued letters of noncompliance to the Respondents. On August 7, 2007 OC& inspected the property and found that the restoration requirements had not been fully completed. The Respondents had installed evergreen plants in a line across the rear yard; however, the height of the plants is less than the six foot height specified in the NOIE and the cleared area was still being maintained as lawn. To date, the Respondents have not fully complied with the NOIE. In the NOV, OC& ordered the Respondents to restore all freshwater wetlands. OC& assessed an administrative penalty of $1,000.00.



October 19, 2007- OC&I/Multi-Media File Nos. HW 07 - 003, SW 07 - 0023 and UST 07 - 03529 re: RES Real Estate, LLC and Giles Place, LLC for property located at 28 Agnes Street, Assessor's Plat 105, Lot 481 in the City of Providence. The OC& alleges that the Respondents violated RIDEM's Rules and Regulations for Hazardous Waste Management, RIDEM's Rules and Regulations for Underground Storage Facilities Used for Petroleum Products and Hazardous Materials, and Rhode Island's Refuse Disposal Act. The violations pertain to the storage, abandonment and disposal of multiple tanks, drums and containers of hazardous waste in an amount totaling approximately 300-gallons at the property without obtaining a permit from the Director, the disposal of approximately 1,154 cubic yards of solid waste on the property, and the abandonment of a 10,000-gallon No. 4 heating oil underground storage tank on the property. In the NOV, the OC& ordered the Respondents to comply with all removal and disposal regulations for the hazardous and solid wastes and ordered the Respondents to file a closure assessment and conduct removal of the abandoned UST on the property. The OC& assessed a penalty in the amount of $52,080.00 for Respondents' noncompliance.



October 19, 2007 - OC&I/AIR No. 07 - 10 re: Robert Emerson d/b/a RI Heat Treating Company for Respondent's facility located at 81 Aldrich Street in the City of Providence. The OC& alleges that the Respondent is in violation of RIDEM's Air Pollution Control ("APC") Regulation No. 36 entitled "Control of Emissions from Organic Solvent Cleaning". The Respondent operates an organic solvent vapor cleaning machine (a batch vapor degreaser) using trichloroethylene ("TCE") at the facility. TCE is a hazardous air pollutant, a volatile organic compound, and is a toxic chemical regulated by federal and state air pollution control regulations. An inspection of the facility by an inspector of the Office of Air Resources ("OAR") on 8 November 2005 revealed that the Respondent failed to comply with multiple sections of APC Regulation No. 36 pertaining to equipment, operation, control, monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements for Respondent's degreaser. On or about 16 November 2005, the OAR issued a Notice of Alleged Violations ("NOAV") to the Respondent citing the violations and requiring that the Respondent achieve compliance. On 14 March 2007 the OAR inspected Respondent's facility again and determined that the Respondent remained in noncompliance with multiple sections of APC Regulation No. 36. On 9 May 2007 the OAR issued another NOAV to the Respondent identifying all violations that were required to be corrected. Thereafter the OAR referred the case to the OC&. In the NOV, the OC& ordered the Respondent to achieve compliance with APC Regulation No. 36 and assessed a penalty in the amount of $10,950.00 for Respondent's past noncompliance.



October 26, 2007- OC&I/Solid Waste File No. 07 - 018 re: Joseph and Regina Adriano for property located at 1283 Ministerial Road, Assessor's Plat 61, Lot 56 in the Town of South Kingstown. The OC& alleges that the Respondents are in violation of Rhode Island's Refuse Disposal Act. The violation pertains to the disposal of approximately 757 cubic yards of solid waste on the property consisting of construction & demolition debris, discarded fuel tanks, scrap metal, tires, household refuse, abandoned equipment, white goods, an abandoned and dismantled automobile, discarded auto parts and other mixed solid waste. On 23 March 2006 the OC& inspected the property and observed approximately 116 cubic yards of solid waste on the property. The OC& issued a Letter of Noncompliance to the Respondents informing them of the alleged violation and providing 60 days for removal of the solid waste to a licensed solid waste management facility. Follow up inspections on 19 December 2006 and 24 May 2007 revealed approximately 119 cubic yards and 757 cubic yards of solid waste respectively remained at the property. In the NOV, the OC& ordered the Respondents to remove all solid waste within 60 days to a license solid waste management facility and assessed a penalty in the amount of $6,250.00.

 

Formal Enforcement Cases Settled or Resolved:

October 3, 2007 - OC&I/AIR File No. 06 - 12 re: Caesar Vargas, d/b/a C&J Finishing for property located at 1 Magnolia Street in the City of Providence. On April 6, 2007 the OC&I issued a NOV to the Respondent alleging that the Respondent violated RIDEM's Air Pollution Control ("APC") Regulation No. 36 entitled "Control of Emissions from Organic Solvent Cleaning". The Respondent formerly operated an organic solvent vapor cleaning machine (a batch vapor degreaser) using trichloroethylene ("TCE") at the facility. TCE is a hazardous air pollutant, a volatile organic compound, and is a toxic chemical regulated by federal and state air pollution control regulations. An inspection of the facility by an inspector of the Office of Air Resources ("OAR") on 11 August 2005 revealed that the Respondent failed to comply with multiple sections of APC Regulation No. 36 pertaining to equipment, operation, control, recordkeeping and reporting requirements for Respondent's degreaser. On or about 31 August 2005, the OAR issued a Notice of Alleged Violations ("NOAV") to the Respondent. On 24 May 2006 the OAR inspected Respondent's facility again and determined that the original degreaser had been replaced; however, Respondent remained in noncompliance with multiple sections of APC Regulation No. 36. On 8 June 2006 the OAR issued another NOAV to the Respondent identifying all violations that were required to be corrected. On 17 November 2006, an inspection by the OAR revealed that the degreaser observed on 8 June 2006 was removed from service and was inoperable. In the NOV, the OC&I assessed a penalty in the amount of $17,500.00 for Respondent's past noncompliance. The Respondent filed an appeal of the NOV with the AAD. Prior to hearing, the Respondent and the OC&I executed a Consent Agreement to resolve the enforcement action. The Respondent agreed to pay a penalty in the amount of $7,500.00. The OC&I allowed the Respondent to pay $1,500.00 upon execution of the Consent Agreement and the remaining penalty to be paid in 24 consecutive monthly installments of $250.00.



October 15, 2007 - OC&I/Air File No. 07-09 re: Murdock Webbing Company, Inc. for its facility located at 27 Foundry Street in the City of Central Falls. On 5 September 2007 the OC& issued a NOV to the Respondent alleging that the Respondent violated RIDEM's Air Pollution Control ("APC") Regulations. The violation pertained to Respondent's installation of a boiler rated at more than 5 million ("MM") Btu/hr capable of firing No. 6 oil or natural gas without first having filed for and then obtaining a minor source permit from RIDEM's Office of Air Resources ("OAR"). OAR's inspection of the facility in December 2006 revealed that the boiler installed at the facility is rated at 16.3 MMBtu/hr. The OAR issued a Notice of Alleged Violation to the Respondent on January 2, 2007, and the Respondent filed an application to install the boiler on January 4, 2007. The OAR issued an approval to the Respondent on March 23, 2007. In the NOV, the OC& assessed an administrative penalty in the amount of $2,000.00 for Respondent's noncompliance. The Respondent failed to request a hearing before the AAD. In lieu of proceeding to Superior Court to enforce the NOV, the Respondent and the OC& executed a Consent Agreement to resolve the enforcement action. The Respondent agreed to pay a penalty in the amount of $1,600.00. The penalty has been paid in full.



October 19, 2007 - OC&I/Medical Waste File No. 06-008 re: Stericycle, Inc. for Respondent's licensed regulated medical waste treatment and destruction facility located at 369 Park East Drive in the City of Woonsocket. On 14 June 2007 the OC& issued a NOV to the Respondent alleging that the Respondent violated RIDEM's Rules and Regulations Governing the Generation, Transportation, Storage, Treatment, Management and Disposal of Regulated Medical Waste in Rhode Island as well as Conditions 1 and 2 of Respondent's license issued by RIDEM. The violation pertained to Respondent's failure to completely treat and destroy regulated medical waste in compliance with approved plans and procedures before disposal. The medical waste observed consisted of two hypodermic needles, a glass medicine bottle and several cut up white plastic drums. The violation was observed during a compliance inspection of the facility. The Respondent corrected the violation after representatives of the RIDEM brought the violation to the attention of the Respondent. In the NOV the OC& assessed an administrative penalty in the amount of $1,500.00. The Respondent filed an appeal of the NOV with the AAD. Prior to hearing, the Respondent and the OC& executed a Consent Agreement to resolve the enforcement action. The Respondent agreed to pay a penalty in the amount of $1,250.00. The penalty has been paid in full.



October 23, 2007 - OC&I/AIR File No. 07 - 11 re: American Power Conversion, Inc. The Respondent operates a manufacturing plant for power protection equipment at 132 Fairgrounds Road in the Town of South Kingstown. On July 30, 2007 the OC&I issued a NOV to the Respondent alleging that the Respondent violated RIDEM's Air Pollution Control ("APC") Regulations and Rhode Island's Clean Air Act (R.I.G.L. 23-23-5 paragraph 19). The violations pertained to Respondent's installation and operation of four (4) diesel generators with a heat input capacity greater than 5 MMBtu/hour without first obtaining a permit to install the equipment in accordance with APC Regulation No. 9 entitled "Air Pollution Control Permits". Following an information request letter issued by RIDEM's Office of Air Resources ("OAR") on July 26, 2006, the Respondent provided information showing that Respondent had installed one Onan Cummins 1,490 HP generator that was started up in October 1994 and three Caterpillar 2,885 HP generator sets installed and started up in November 2005. On September 20, 2006 the OAR issued a Notice of Alleged Violations ("NOAV") to the Respondent for its failure to obtain a permit for three 20.221 MMBtu/hr Caterpillar generator sets and one 9.306 MMBtu/hr Onan Cummins emergency generator. The NOAV required the Respondent to file an application with the OAR to obtain approval to install the generators. On February 20, 2007 the OAR issued a permit to the Respondent for its Onan Cummins emergency generator. To date, the OAR has not issued a permit for the three Caterpillar generators. In the NOV, the OC&I ordered the Respondent not to operate any generators or engines with a heat input capacity greater than 5 MMBtu/hr or with potential emissions of NOx that would require a construction permit without first obtaining a permit from the OAR. A penalty in the amount of $24,414.00 was assessed for Respondent's noncompliance. The Respondent filed an appeal of the NOV with the AAD. Prior to hearing, the Respondent and the OC&I executed a Consent Agreement to resolve the enforcement action. The Respondent complied with all requirements set forth in the order section of the NOV and agreed to a penalty in the amount of $15,414.00. The OC&I allowed the Respondent to pay $7,707.00 upon execution of the Consent Agreement and the remaining $7,707.00 before December 31, 2007. The Respondent decided to pay its penalty in full and the case is considered resolved.



October 24, 2007 - OC&I/Septic System File No. CI92-218 re: John Arcuri for property located at 369 Main Street, Assessor's Plat 30-1, Lot 50, in the City of Cranston. The property includes a four-bedroom one story residential building. On June 6, 2005 OC& issued a NOV to the Respondent alleging that the Respondent violated RIDEM's Rules and Regulations Establishing Minimum Standards Relating to Location, Design, Construction, and Maintenance of Individual Sewage Disposal Systems. The violation pertained to a failed individual sewage disposal system ("ISDS") and discharge of sewage to the surface of the ground. In the NOV the Respondent was ordered to reduce the discharge of sewage to the ISDS, pump the ISDS as needed to prevent sewage overflows, and repair the ISDS. OC& assessed an administrative penalty in the amount of $1,600.00. The Respondent failed to request a hearing and the case was forwarded to the DEM Office of Legal Services to file a complaint in Superior Court. The DEM Office of Legal Services filed a complaint in Superior Court on December 19, 2005 and obtained an order from the Superior Court on February 6, 2006. The court order required the Respondent to comply with the NOV and pay the full penalty of $1,600.00. The Respondent failed to comply with the court order; however, the property was sold to a new owner. Prior to the transfer of the property the new owner repaired the failed ISDS and paid the penalty in full. The OC& issued a release of the NOV.

 

Superior Court Actions Issued:

None issued this month.

Superior Court Actions Settled or Resolved:

None settled or resolved this month.