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EPA SETTLES WITH EASTMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY, KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT

Release Date: 09/17/1999
Contact Information: Dawn Harris, EPA Press and Media Relations, 404-562-8421

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today the settlement of an administrative enforcement action against Eastman Chemical Company of Kingsport, Tennessee for alleged violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

“The settlement reaffirms the Agency's commitment to maintaining an enforcement program that provides a credible deterrent to noncompliance” said John H. Hankinson, Jr., Regional Administrator in Atlanta. “We will continue to vigorously use enforcement along with other cooperative approaches to protect human health and the environment.”

The settlement, a Consent Agreement and Consent Order (CACO), results from a joint investigation conducted by EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). The CACO requires the company to pay a civil penalty of $2,750,000 to the U.S. Treasury. The interagency cooperation between EPA and TDEC facilitated the settlement of this case.

The Administrative Complaint, filed concurrently with the Consent Order, alleges that the company failed to accurately monitor the amount of hazardous waste burned in boilers at its Kingsport facility from December 1995 through August 1996. This failure prompted EPA and TDEC to comprehensively assess the compliance status of seven steam boilers which burn a combination of hazardous waste and coal for energy generation.

On December 2, 1996, Eastman notified TDEC that in early August 1996, the company detected a problem with its wastewater treatment sludge (biosludge) flow meters. In the Administrative Complaint, EPA alleged that from December 1995 through August 1996, Eastman violated federal and state regulations which required the facility to measure the composition and monitor the hourly flow rate of hazardous waste delivered to each boiler. This requirement is designed to ensure that the facility does not burn hazardous waste in excess of specified maximum quantities set for each boiler. A major penalty was pursued because of the extended period of noncompliance and Eastman’s five month delay in notification.

The boilers are regulated as RCRA interim status units, a provision which allows a facility to operate a unit without a permit as long as it complies with certain general facility and unit specific standards until a final permit determination is made. Under the interim status provisions, Eastman is allowed to burn hazardous wastes generated in the facility’s production process, but the amount which can be burned is limited and must be closely monitored.