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Leading Edge Aviation Services, Inc. to pay $65,000 and implement pollution prevention project

Release Date: 04/21/2009
Contact Information: Mary Simms, 415-947-4270, simms.mary@epa.gov

Victorville aircraft painting company will pay fine for not handling hazardous waste properly

(4/21/2009 -- LOS ANGELES) Under the terms of a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Leading Edge Aviation Services, Inc., a Victorville, Calif. aircraft painting company, will pay $65,000 to resolve violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

Leading Edge contracts to paint airplanes for major airlines. The EPA alleges Leading Edge violated federal hazardous waste regulations by failing to take several steps, including:

• Storing hazardous waste without a permit;
• Failing to close containers;
• Failing to prevent the release of hazardous wastes;
• Failing to maintain aisle space.

As part of the settlement, the Victorville, Calif. airplane painting company, will spend at least $600,000 to purchase an alternative plane-coating product which significantly reduces hexavalent chrome and hydrofluoric acids in its conversion process, eliminating 70,000 gallons of hazardous wastewater per year.
"EPA is pleased that Leading Edge, in addition to paying a penalty, has committed to undertake actions that will reduce the amount of waste generated at its facility," said Rich Vaille, the EPA Waste Management Division associate director for the Pacific Southwest Region. "Leading Edge's commitment to use alternative coatings is being done as a supplemental environmental project, a program which allows companies to mitigate some penalties by implementing practices that go beyond regulatory requirements."

The violations were detected during a routine inspection by EPA. Leading Edge has corrected the violations.

For more information on the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act program, please visit:
https://www.epa.gov/compliance/basics/cleanup.html#rcra

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