Enforcement in New England

Federal Facility Common Compliance Violations

Common violations with respect to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA):

• There is a lack of waste determinations.
• There are open hazardous waste containers not currently in use.
• There are no hazardous waste labels or containers are mislabeled.
• Inadequate aisle space exists.
• Hazardous waste signs and emergency numbers are not posted at hazardous waste storage areas.
• Drums in the storage areas have been there longer than 90 days.
• Satellite accumulation areas have more than one 55-gallon drum per waste stream.
• Incompatible waste materials/wastes are stored next to each other.
• Drums lack secondary containment.
• There is a lack or incomplete inspection of the weekly logs at the hazardous waste storage areas.
• Large quantity generators either lack a training plan, have no annual RCRA training, and/or have poor training records.
• The hazardous waste contingency plan is incomplete and/or has not been sent to the local governmental entities.
• Land ban notifications do not accurately reflect the waste.
• Defense Reutilization and Marketing Offices (DRMOs) have difficulty in determining differences between hazardous materials and hazardous wastes.
• Contractors ordinarily handle waste determinations and manifests. The Facility staff signing the manifests are legally responsible for both waste determinations and accurate reporting on the manifests.

Common violations with respect to the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Plan (SPCC):

• The Facility lacks a plan. An SPCC plan is required when there are more than 660 gallons in a single oil tank or there are more than 1,320 gallons in aggregate above ground or there are more than 42,000 gallons of oil below ground.
• The plan is missing key elements required in the Code of Federal Regulations Part 112.7.
• The plan has not been reviewed every 3 years.
• The plan has not been signed and dated by a Certified P.E.

Common violations with respect to Underground Storage Tanks (USTs):

• There has been a failure to maintain records of leak detection.
• The USTs have not been registered.
• Leak detection testing has not been conducted on a UST.
• Release detection monitoring has not been conducted.

Common violations with respect to the Clean Air Act (CAA):

• Violations of the New Source Performance Standards, including:
  • Failure to submit proper start-up notifications for boilers.
  • The particulate standard has been exceeded.
  • The opacity monitor has been incorrectly calibrated.
  • There is a failure to submit excess-emission reports.
• There has been operation of combustion equipment without valid permits.
• There has been a failure to provide proper notification for asbestos demolition and renovation activities.
• There has been a failure to record the location of asbestos-containing material on the Facility deed.

Common violations with respect to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA):

• Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) record-keeping requirements have not been met.
• PCBs have been used in other than a totally enclosed manner (e.g. use of a hydraulic fluid containing 110 ppm PCBs to operate a personnel elevator).
• The use of hydraulic fluid containing 250 ppm PCBs.
• There have been violations of the one year and the 30 day storage limits for PCB items.

Common violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) - Underground Injection Control (UIC):

• Unauthorized and unpermitted injection (e.g. operation of wells without a permit).
• Endangerment (e.g. injection of material into wells which may adversely affect human health).

Common violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES):

• There has been a failure to obtain a NPDES permit for wastewater discharges.
• Nitrate discharges exceed NPDES permit.