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San Francisco company settles with U.S. EPA in toxic chemical case

Release Date: 01/30/2007
Contact Information: Margot Perez-Sullivan, perezsullivan.margot@epa.gov Desk/415.947.4149/cell 415.760.9161

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reached a $28,677 settlement with a San Francisco company over its failure to submit annual reports about its toxic chemical releases, a violation of a federal community right-to-know law.

R.J. McGlennon Co., Inc. located at 198 Utah Street, manufactures finishes for wood and other surfaces at its facility. In a September 2006 civil complaint, the EPA alleged that McGlennon did not submit timely reports for its use of methyl ethyl ketone and xylene between 2001 and 2003 as well as its use of certain glycol ethers between 2001 and 2004, violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.

“These annual reports provide communities with valuable information about the chemicals being released into their environment,” said Enrique Manzanilla, director of the Communities and Ecosystems Division in the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “This information is critical to protecting public health and the environment.”

Congress enacted the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act in 1986 to help local communities protect public health, safety and the environment from chemical hazards. The law requires companies using any of 650 listed toxic chemicals over certain thresholds to report their annual chemical releases to the EPA. The information is then compiled into a national database that is accessible to local emergency planning personnel and the general public.

For more information on the EPA’s Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act program, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/tri

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