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Contact: Marion M. Galant,
Community Involvement Manager
(303) 692-3304
1-888-569-1831 – Toll Free
For Immediate Release Wednesday, September 15, 2004
State Health Department Assesses $1.2 Million
Environmental Penalty
DENVER— The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has
finalized an agreement for collection of a $1.2 million penalty assessed
against Power Engineering of Denver.
The penalty is being paid in installments that began in July 2004 and will
continue for two years.
The funds will go to the StEPP Foundation, a
non-profit Colorado organization, to provide grants for environmental
projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency and pollution prevention
projects to benefit the area of Denver where the violations occurred; to
the Western States’ Project to enhance training of state and local
government staff throughout Colorado in environmental compliance and
enforcement; and to the state’s general fund.
Power Engineering, 2525 S. Delaware St., in Denver is a chrome-plating
facility specializing in refurbishing and chrome-plating crankshafts and
pistons in marine engines to give them a longer wear life. It is one of
only a few facilities in the country that can do this work.
Inspections at the plant by the department’s Hazardous Materials and
Waste Management Division concluded that the company had illegally stored
hazardous waste in stockpiles and deposited waste on adjacent property,
and that both soils and ground water were affected as a result. Ground
water was contaminated with highly toxic chromium 6, which had traveled
more than 2,000 feet and discharged into the nearby South Platte River via
a storm water drain.
In June 1996, the state issued a compliance order requiring assessment
and cleanup of the contamination, followed by a penalty order in February
1997. Power Engineering failed to comply with those orders, threatening
bankruptcy and abandonment of the site, according to Howard Roitman, the
environmental programs director for the Department of Public Health and
Environment.
In August 1997, the state filed suit against the facility in Denver
District Court for failure to comply with the state’s corrective action
and penalty orders, and simultaneously the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency filed suit in U.S. District Court in Denver, requiring Power
Engineering to provide financial assurances to cover the costs of
environmental clean up and closure of the facility.
By October 1998, a state judge affirmed the state’s position by
requesting that the state draft an order for his signature requiring Power
Engineering to comply with state requirements. In the EPA’s case, the
federal judge granted three motions for preliminary injunction and
required Power Engineering to provide the U.S. with financial assurances
of $3.5 million. The state and EPA worked as partners on both lawsuits,
with the Region 8 EPA obtaining the financial assurance that secured the
cleanup. In addition to the EPA, Roitman also credited the cooperation of
the Denver Department of Environmental Health; the Denver Fire Department;
Metro Wastewater Reclamation District; and the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) for exercising their individual authorities
in resolving this problem.
During the legal actions, little effective cleanup occurred. However,
since 1998, Roitman said that substantial cleanup has been accomplished
and that it is near to being finalizes. The cleanup remedy involves
treatment of the chrome without removing the soils and ground water but by
converting chrome 6 to the far less toxic chrome 3 with the injection of
calcium polysulfide in contaminated areas.
“This was the first time we had worked with this approach,” explained
Gary Baughman, Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division director.
“And, it is working very well. We now are using this technique elsewhere.”
Baughman explained that the treatment is cost effective and leaves no
lingering concerns about continuing future problems, and the project is
close to completion.
The company’s business operations, which have been able to continue
because of the way the remediation was designed, are funding the cleanup.
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