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Clean Harbors Clean Air Act Settlement


WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with Clean Harbors Environmental Services that is expected to enhance calculating and reporting on benzene emissions from North America's largest operator of hazardous waste treatment and disposal facilities. This settlement involves ten facilities in eight states. It confirms the proper industry standard for compliance with the Clean Air Act regulation that limits benzene emissions from facilities that treat, store, and dispose of hazardous waste.

A consent decree, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, will require Clean Harbors to properly determine the benzene quantities in waste shipments received from its customers. Clean Harbors will not be allowed to estimate the benzene received by using the middle number in a range of possible benzene concentrations that a customer supplies. Instead, Clean Harbors will have to measure the actual benzene concentration or use the high end of the range in order to ensure that benzene is not underreported. Underreporting benzene can result in failing to install pollution controls on tanks and other equipment that handle benzene.

The affected facilities are located in Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; Braintree, Massachusetts; Bristol, Connecticut; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Plaquemine, Louisiana; La Porte, Texas; Deer Park, Texas; Kimball, Nebraska; and Aragonite, Utah.

For additional information, contact:

Nívea R. Berríos
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
(MC 2242A)
Washington, D.C. 20460
(202) 564-8577

Robert H. Smith
Associate Regional Counsel
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 5
77 W. Jackson Blvd. (C-14J)
Chicago, IL 60604
(312) 886-0765

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