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U.S. EPA and Chromalloy Corp. settle air emissions case

Release Date: 9/29/2003
Contact Information: Mark Merchant, (415) 947-4297

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it has issued a consent agreement and final order with Chromalloy Gas and Turbine Corp. to resolve violations of national emission standards for halogenated solvents, which the company uses to degrease
metal parts.

With this agreement, Chromalloy, which has facilities in Phoenix, Ariz., Carson City, Nevada and Gardena, Calif. will pay a $92,522 penalty to the EPA and will implement a new pollution prevention program the will effectively mean the end of the company's use of halogenated solvents to degrease
parts at its Phoenix facility.

The pollution prevention program, will cost Chromalloy $189,078. However, it is expected to decrease toxic emissions of trichloroethylene, a hazardous air pollutant, by approximately 6,500 pounds per year.

"Chromalloy's violations of the EPA's solvent cleaning standards were serious, and our actions against them underscores the agency's commitment to a strong air pollution enforcement program," said Jack Broadbent, the EPA's Air Division director in the Pacific Southwest Regional office. "By agreeing
to partially resolve this case with an impressive pollution reduction program, Chromalloy is helping the environment."

The EPA issued its complaint against Chromalloy on Sept. 30, 2002 for violations of the agency's solvent cleaning standards at the Gardena and Carson City plants. At the Gardena plant, which is located at 2100 West 139th St., EPA inspectors found the company was not operating its degreasing equipment properly, which caused the release of perchloroethylene (PCE), and failed to file annual compliance and annual reports over the course of several years. Initially the EPA proposed a penalty of $110,000 for violations in Gardena.

In Carson City, where the company operates a plant at 3636 Arrowhead Dr., Chromalloy exceeded emission limits for PCE and the EPA initially proposed a penalty of $93,500.

At the company's plant at 5151 West Polk St. in Phoenix, a Chromalloy employee removed parts from a degreaser so quickly that solvent splashed on the EPA's inspector's arm and leg. The EPA initially proposed a penalty of $27,500 for this violation in a complaint issued on Aug. 7.