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E.C. Phillips and Sons, Inc. Agrees to Pay $25,000 EPA Settlement to Resolve Clean Water Act Violations

Release Date: 10/11/2006
Contact Information: Robert Grandinetti, (509) 376-3748, grandinetti.robert@epa.gov Tony Brown, (206) 553-1203, brown.anthony@epa.gov

(Ketchikan, AK – Oct. 11, 2006) E.C. Phillips and Son, Inc., (E.C. Phillips) a seafood processing facility located at 1775 Tongass Avenue, Ketchikan, Alaska, has agreed to pay a $25,000 penalty to settle water discharge permit violations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

EPA initiated its enforcement action following the discovery that the company had violated their National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit at its Ketchikan facility. E.C. Phillips and EPA signed a Consent Agreement and Final Order which settles all the violations and sets the monetary penalty.

“Protecting Alaska’s waters is a top priority for us,” said Kim Ogle, EPA’s NPDES Compliance Unit Manager in Seattle. “We are pleased that we were able to reach a settlement with E.C. Phillips and Sons, Inc. and expect better permit compliance in the future.”

The following are a list of violations:

· E.C. Phillips failed to treat seafood processing waste and instead discharged the untreated waste directly into Tongass Narrows and onto the adjacent shoreline;
· E.C. Phillips failed to ensure that its effluent was one-half inch or less prior to discharge; and
· E.C. Philips failed to develop and implement an adequate Best Management Practices Plan.

For more information about EPA’s NPDES program, visit: https://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/