Bend, Portland cos. fined $120K over hazardous waste disposal
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced Thursday it has issued penalties totaling $120,838 to two businesses, based in Bend and Portland, for environmental violations that resulted in the improper disposal of hazardous waste in Idaho.
Between July 2015 and July 2017, Patheon Development Services generated chlorinated solvent waste at its pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Bend and failed to accurately identify and report the waste as hazardous, the agency said.
Pantheon provided the waste to Portland-based Univar USA Inc., doing business as ChemCare, which transported 14 shipments totaling 7,270 pounds without the required documentation.
Univar transported the waste to a US Ecology facility in Grand View, Idaho, where the lack of documentation led to the chemical being disposed in a landfill without first being properly treated. The DEQ said the waste should have been incinerated in a specialized hazardous waste incinerator prior to being deposited in a landfill.
Untreated chlorinated solvents can pass through landfill barriers and reach groundwater, where they threaten drinking water resources and the environment. Solvents may also off-gas toxic compounds into the air. Exposure to chlorinated solvents can harm the central nervous system and increase the risk of liver and lung cancer, according to the agency.
DEQ penalized Patheon Development Services $59,890 and Univar USA Inc. $60,948. A portion of Univar’s penalty is for operating a solid waste transfer facility in Portland without a DEQ-issued permit.
DEQ regulates the accumulation, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous waste to protect public health and the environment.
Both companies have until Nov. 13 to appeal, and a representative of Patheon in Bend told NewsChannel 21 they plan to appeal the penalty.
Read the enforcement notice for Univar: https://www.oregon.gov/deq/nr/101918Univar.pdf
Read the enforcement notice for Pantheon: https://www.oregon.gov/deq/nr/101918PatheonDev.pdf
In the Oct. 29 notice of civil penalty to Patheon, DEQ Compliance and Enforcement Manager Kieran O’Donnell noted that the company had taken steps to correct the issues and worked to prevent a recurrence of last year’s violations. He said the agency considered those efforts when determining the amount of the fine.
