BATH, Maine — Bath Iron Works was fined $12,200 by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for violating hazardous waste standards discovered during an inspection of the Bath and Brunswick facilities in December.
The violations and fine were detailed Thursday in a monthly enforcement report issued by the Maine DEP.
On Friday, BIW spokesman Jim DeMartini said the company “immediately undertook a series of corrective actions … and has taken appropriate steps to maintain compliance.”
According to the report, BIW violated department rules including failing to keep containers of hazardous waste paint closed except when adding or removing waste; failing to label or mark a container of hazardous waste with the words “Hazardous Waste”; accumulating hazardous waste for more than 90 days without a license to do so; failing to have an adequate containment and collection system in a hazardous waste storage area; and failing to conduct and record daily inspections of hazardous waste containers.
Those issues “were resolved to comply with the law, remediate environmental damage, restore natural resources to appropriate conditions and impose penalties to deter similar actions in the future,” according to the DEP.
Peter J. Carney, director of procedures and enforcement for the Maine DEP, said Friday that BIW was not fined previously in 2011.
The inspection in December was part of a regularly scheduled inspection process.
“The vast majority of items cited by the DEP were fully resolved within 24 hours,” DeMartini wrote in an email Friday to The Times Record. “Further, BIW has instituted additional steps to ensure ongoing compliance with DEP regulations including a review of hazardous waste procedures, increased training with respect to hazardous waste handling, storage and disposal as well as expanded oversight activities. BIW appreciates the regulatory compliance efforts of the department and the professionalism with which the inspection was conducted. BIW reacted quickly to the DEP’s findings and has taken appropriate steps to maintain compliance.”
These violations refer to some of the most fundamental elements of hazardous waste (RCRA) regulations. How long have they been out of compliance? BIW contracts certainly include a payment for hazardous waste compliance. BIW probably did not commit the resources to ensure “adequate” compliance on these regulations. Therefore, BIW was over payed for a compliance plan which resulted in violations. I bet that BIW still made a net profit from this transaction and that they were treated with favored enforcement. Business will continue as usual and the Union will ensure the lack of any negative personnel actions. This is a classic example of corruption within the military – industrial complex and demonstrates the lack of accountability in the federal government.
A lot of assumptions you have going on here. I have been involved in a lot of ship repairs and don’t remember anything about a payment specifically for hazardous waste compliance. Anything on shore is the yard’s responsibility to deal with local regulations. The unions would not be responisble for making up a hazardous waste management plan, only the implementation. It doesn’t sound as if there was any actual pollution just written record keeping mainly. A 12,200 dollar fine here is basically a minor event.
Maybe it is time for the citizen to take some accountability? I’m so tired of people screaming “corruption in the military, corruption in the government, the industrial complex”..blah blah. Most of the liberals remained seated while it all happened. It didn’t go your way not you want to finger point. You wanted the government to take care of people. You know BIW should receive favoritsm, so should your employer! They pay your salary so you can pay internet so that you can whine about the government. They pay for the welfare programs, they low the local park to maintained. If BIW closed how funding for schools, roads, and services would have to be cut in the City of Bath?
BIW likely did not want to pay 60K a year to a Unionized person to read and interupt a bunch of regulations that are convoluled. Maybe each DEP inspector has their reading of the rules, just maybe it was a mistake.
The Union would say, “it isn’t in my job classification” LOL.
Ok, so how many people are going to get laid off to pay for the clean up, fines, and the preventive measures? They are all technical violations that did not pose immediate risk to the enviornment of the workers. It is just a way for DEP to show that they are in charge.
It may be a minor event but is a useless waste of time. Maybe DEP should do something more useful.