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Maui settles risk management plan deficiencies

Release Date: 06/26/2006
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, 808-541-2711, higuchi.dean@epa.gov

(06/26/06) County pays $5,700 in penalties

HONOLULU -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recently settled with three facilities in Maui County that requires them to pay a collective $5,700 for failing to review and update risk management plans for hazardous chemicals by June 2004.

“Facilities need to update their risk management plans to protect workers, the community and the environment from accidental chemical releases,” said Keith Takata, director for the EPA Pacific Southwest region’s Superfund Division. “Maui County has completed the updates to their plans to meet our requirements.”

The Wailuku/Kahului, Lahaina and Kihei Wastewater Reclamation Facilities settled under the agency’s expedited settlement agreement policy with reduced penalties. One-ton cylinders of chlorine are used in quantities reported at 16,000 pounds or more at each site.

In 2004, an EPA inspector found the deficiencies as a result of an inspection at the Wailuku facility and review of the three facilities’ risk management plans. The Lahaina and Kahului facilities were each assessed $1,525, while the Wailuku/Kahului facility was assessed $2,650 in penalties.

The Clean Air Act requires a registered facility to include any new information in its risk management plan, and to review and update the plan in five years. Due to changes in the law, all registered facilities were required to update and resubmit their plans by June 2004.
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