Region 5 - Office of Regional Counsel

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

Petco Petroleum Corporation

Region 5 signs a Consent Agreement and Final Order with Petco Petroleum Corporation.  Region 5 filed an administrative complaint in this action in February 1999. On August 31, 2003, Region 5 signed a Consent Decree and Final Order (CAFO) requiring Petco Petroleum Corporation (“Petco”), Hinsdale, Illinois, to pay a civil penalty of $42,500, pursuant to Section 1423(c) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”), for violations of 40 C.F.R §§ 144.51(a) and 144.52(a)(6).

Region 5's complaint alleged that Petco violated 40 C.F.R. § 144.51(a) by failing to plug and abandon three Class II underground salt water injection wells, which it owned or operated in Jackson County, Michigan, in accordance with the Underground Injection Control Permits that U.S. EPA had issued for the wells. Petco otherwise failed to provide notice to the Administrator that the wells would not endanger underground sources of drinking water, as required by 40 C.F.R. § 144.52(a)(6). The State of Michigan eventually plugged the three abandoned wells in compliance with the applicable requirements of the SDWA and 40 C.F.R. Parts 144 and 146. The complaint had proposed a penalty of $90,020.
Contact: Susan Tennenbaum (312) 886-0273