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EPA Cites Clean Touch Car Wash/Quick Lube, Inc. and Gaseteria Oil Corporation For Clean Water Act Violations; Seeks $48,500 in Penalties

Release Date: 07/31/1998
Contact Information:

(#98096) New York, New York -- The Clean Touch Car Wash/Quick Lube, Inc and Gaseteria Oil Corporation were ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to pay $48,500 for illegally discharging automotive oils and fluids into floor drains at its facility on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island, N.Y. The Clean Touch Car Wash/Quick Lube, Inc. operates the facility, which is owned by Gaseteria Oil Corporation. Facilities that discharge potentially hazardous fluids into underground injection wells, which include floor drains, dry wells and septic systems, must first obtain proper authorization from the EPA.

"What seems like a small amount of hazardous fluid could endanger public health and the environment," said Jeanne M. Fox, EPA Region 2 Administrator. "In most cases, floor drains lead to groundwater -- which could become contaminated. EPA must be concerned with these small sources because they can add up quickly and pollute groundwater that is often used as a source of drinking water."

Both companies were required to submit to EPA information about the floor drains in the Hylan Boulevard facility and they failed to do so. EPA conducted an inspection of the facility in August 1997 and determined that the facility was discharging fluids from its automotive fluid changing operation into a floor drain. The agency sent a letter to Clean Touch Car Wash/Quick Lube, Inc. and to Gaseteria Oil Corporation requiring them to submit a permit application or closure plan for the floor drain. The companies did not comply with EPA's requirements, and a subsequent May 1998 inspection revealed that the needed clean-out and remediation of the drains had not occurred. Automotive fluids are considered hazardous because they can contain, among other things, heavy metals and hydrocarbons. Clean Touch Car Wash/Quick Lube, Inc. and Gaseteria has thirty days to respond to EPA's order

For more information contact:
Mary Mears, Press Office
EPA Region 2
290 Broadway
NY, NY 10007-1866
Voice: 212-637-3669 FAX: 212-637-5046 E-Mail: mears.mary@epamail.epa.gov