Waste company fined $1 million

Only a handful of companies statewide are entrusted with the handling of dangerous waste. One of them has done such a bad job at its storage and treatment facilities in Seattle, Renton, Kent and Tacoma that unusually large penalties are needed, state and federal regulators charged yesterday.

The regulators hit Philip Services Corp. with more than $1 million in fines for allegedly violating environmental rules at its four sites, including failing to properly monitor ground-water contamination in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood.

At the Georgetown plant, benzene and solvent contamination has seeped over many years into the ground water and traveled at least a half-mile toward the Duwamish River, possibly even reaching the urban waterway.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Philip Services has been violating cleanup requirements there for at least five years, while Georgetown residents have expressed concerns that vapors from the chemicals are seeping into their basements and sickening people and pets.

While yesterday's fines are of unusual magnitude, Philip Services is not alone in its compliance troubles.

Of the seven commercial sites in the state that accept dangerous waste for treatment, storage and disposal, five have serious violations. And two of the five facilities that accept hazardous waste for recycling have violations, said Jim Sachet, who is managing the state's new $500,000 initiative to address problems with hazardous waste management facilities. Penalties for the violations are still pending.

Meeting government regulations "is a problem at these facilities," agreed Rick Albright, director of the Office of Waste and Chemicals Management with the EPA in Seattle.

State Department of Ecology regulators have been raising concerns with the waste companies, but in the last couple of years the companies have not responded. "We got to a point where we felt it was time to issue penalties ... and force the issues," Sachet said.

In at least one case, a waste company shirked its cleanup responsibilities and left taxpayers holding the bag.

In November 1999, CleanCare in Tacoma shut down for financial reasons and walked away from its hazardous mess.

The EPA spent $4.3 million cleaning up drums and empty tanks left by the Canadian-owned hazardous waste management company. The immediate threat was removed, but it will cost millions more to finish the job.

"This is the poster child for some of the systemic problems we're seeing with these facilities," Sachet said.

Among the problems are regulations that do not require companies to set aside enough cleanup money should they close.

Sachet said the businesses can run into trouble because there are so many regulations, equipment is costly and the market is competitive.

Philip Services, also known locally as Burlington Environmental Inc., will appeal the fines. Spokesman Laird Harris said the government agencies lacked some pertinent information and there was disagreement in interpreting some regulations.

Harris said his firm knew about some of the issues being raised and they were legitimate, but in the past similar concerns had been raised and resolved amicably. He called the fines "excessive."

The EPA levied $774,000 in fines for violations at the company's Georgetown plant. Ecology fined Philip Services $114,000 for problems at its Kent facility, $66,000 for its Tacoma plant and $50,000 for its Renton laboratory.

Violations outlined by Ecology included storing chemicals together that could react dangerously, keeping chemicals in areas not permitted, storing chemicals too long and improperly training employees.

Anyone generating hazardous waste must hire a licensed handler to get rid of it. Philip Services customers include industries, the U.S. Department of Defense and even the EPA.

In past years the firm has had multiple chemical spills and gas leaks, including an industrial spill in 1998 that triggered a chemical reaction and sent a toxic orange cloud 100 feet into the air over the Port of Tacoma. In 1995, chemical reactions caused a fire in the company's Kent plant, resulting in a $160,000 fine.

But Ecology did acknowledge significant accomplishments by the company, which stores and disposes of acids, cyanide-contaminated water, PCBs and industrial waste water at its sites south of Seattle.

The company has replaced leaking tanks and cleaned contaminated soil in Georgetown. The current contamination was left by former owners, including a paint manufacturer. Philip Services, based in Chicago, bought the site in 1993.

"The Georgetown residents should really be happy that there's going to be some attention paid to this," said Yolanda Sinde, director of the non-profit Community Coalition for Environmental Justice based in Seattle.

"It's about time that enforcement agencies really step up to the plate."

The agencies and Philip Services are hopeful the situation can be resolved.

"I think the company is sincere about doing this right," Albright said.

P-I reporter Lisa Stiffler can be reached at 206-448-8042 or lisastiffler@seattlepi.com

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