The Mountain View Voice

8/9/03

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EPA threatens to fine filter plant

Company that processes local toxics could lose $27,500 a day

By Julie O'Shea

A controversial Arizona facility that disposes of toxic chemicals from Mountain View is engaged in a standoff with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

EPA claims the USFilter/Westates facility isn't up to federal safety standards, and is giving the Arizona plant a month to bring its operations up to code or face a $27,500 fine for every day it stays in disrepair. Located on an Indian reservation, the plant has come under fire from residents there, who worry that the highly toxic byproducts of its operations endanger their health.

Westates officials, however, argue that all the problems cited by EPA were fixed a long time ago. While EPA admits that some of the issues have been addressed, federal officials say they won't let Westates off the hook without more documentation proving its facility is in top condition.

But even if things are fixed, that doesn't necessarily mean Westates won't face any fines, said Frances Schultz, an EPA official in charge of regulating facilities like Westates.

"It was still a violation and still subject to fines," Schultz said.

In a pointed letter dated July 28, EPA told Westates director Monte McCue that it is preparing to bring civil administrative action against his company to ensure its equipment is in compliance with federal law. McCue has 30 days to respond or face sanctions from the federal government, the letter warned.

McCue argued in April that his operations weren't as "deficient" as EPA claims.

Westates, which is responsible for destroying waste from some of the country's most hazardous sites, has come under local scrutiny since a May Voice report detailed how carbon filters that remove the solvent trichloroethene (TCE) from Mountain View ground water are superheated at the Arizona plant, releasing cancer-causing dioxin in the process.

Westates has been running its operations on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation since the early 1990s under an outdated EPA permit.

Westates spokesperson Suzanne Pfister said Tuesday that she doesn't understand the basis for EPA's accusations.

"USFilter has spent an enormous amount of time responding to these (problems), yet there has been no acknowledgement," she said. "These are very minor issues. USFilter felt they were not a violation." Still, Pfister added, the multibillion-dollar company agreed to fix them.

Pfister said she doesn't know why EPA sent Westates a warning since all the problems cited in last week's letter were addressed a long time ago.

"That's something you are going to have to ask EPA," Pfister said.

Schultz said this is not the first time EPA has threatened corrective action against Westates. The first time was in 1993, just two years after it began operating. Some of the concerns raised in the July 28 letter mirror the ones brought to light in 1993, she said.

"It is EPA's intention to file a complaint against USFilter/Westates Carbon within the next six weeks unless USFilter/Westates Carbon advises EPA of substantial reasons not to proceed," Schultz wrote in the July 28 letter.

Failure to comply, the letter continues, could result in civil and criminal actions, including penalties of up to $27,500 per day for each violation.

EPA's latest demands come more than two years after officials visited the Westates plant and discovered "gouged, chiseled out" equipment and inaccurate documents and records.

"EPA encourages USFilter/Westates Carbon to explore the possibility of a settlement," Schultz's letter stated. Ninety percent of the companies EPA threatens to file a complaint on are more than willing to sit down at the table with the agency and work out a plan, Schultz said.

Calling the letter a "bombshell" Bradley Angel, director of the San Francisco-based advocacy group Greenaction, was glad that EPA took action. "It's just incredible," he said.

For Dave Harper, a Colorado River tribal member who -- along with Angel -- has been trying to shut down the plant for years, said the action from the EPA was long in coming.

"Everything is after the fact," he said Monday. "I am glad they are [acting on] what we've known all this time."

Schultz said there are a lot of steps in the investigation process, and that is why it has taken two years of site visits and the letter she sent out last week for the agency to take action.

"We feel we have concluded our investigation to date," Schultz said.

EPA investigators said they have observed cracks in Westates equipment and incomplete data from the company on safety measures and repairs mandated by EPA.

McCue maintains that he is working diligently with officials at EPA, and has the full support of the tribal council.

Tribal council members have not returned repeated calls from the Voicefor comment, and Harper claims there are many concerned Parker residents who are getting "sugarcoated" facts from Westates.

McCue assured the Voice that he is hiding nothing and has invited Mountain View residents to come take a tour of his facility. The Northeast Mountain View Advisory Council -- a citizens group charged with overseeing the city's federal waste cleanups -- formed a filter committee last month to look into the happenings in Parker. Some members said they have been thinking about flying down to the desert to check out Westates for themselves.

"It seems odd," Harper said. "We didn't get an invitation to go visit Westates."

To Mountain View residents looking into taking a trip down to Arizona, Harper offers this: "If you are going to come take a tour of Westates, you can meet with us, and we'll give you a better one."