EPA Forces Public Service from a Private Company

The actual fine is far less than the cost of community service that a Rhode Island company must perform to settle its case with the Environmental Protection Agency.Northland Environmental and its owner, PSC Environmental Services, have agreed to remove chemicals from 60 high schools and middle schools within a 50-mile radius of Northland’s Providence facility — even though the alleged violation has nothing at all to do with those schools.

Nevertheless, R.I. officials said they are happy to have the free help in disposing of “old and unnecessary” chemicals in school science labs.

The EPA on Friday announced that Northland, a commercial waste handler, has agreed to pay a $58,278 fine — and spend $252,152 on the school cleanup — to settle EPA claims that the company violated state and federal hazardous waste laws at its facility in Providence.

The EPA alleged that Northland/PSC Environmental Services violated the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and state hazardous waste laws by “failing to properly identify certain hazardous wastes and failing to properly maintain hazardous waste tanks and containers.”

According to the EPA announcement, “These alleged violations could have resulted in the release of hazardous wastes to the environment” (emphasis added). The EPA also said the company also stored incompatible hazardous wastes next to one another, creating a potential for fire or explosions (emphasis added).

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