EPA fines recycling firm for polluting Bay

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Sep 3, 2008 | by Mike Taugher

SAN FRANCISCO -- A major Bay Area recycling company is facing possible fines of more than $450,000 for allowing trash, metals and other pollutants to wash into drains that lead to the Bay, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.

California Waste Solutions Inc., which picks up curbside recycling from about half of Oakland and 80 percent of San Jose residents, for years failed to take basic steps to prevent pollution from getting into stormwater drains, regulators said.

The problems described by EPA officials range from failing to cover material and keep clean facilities to not complying with requirements to inspect their own facilities.

"This company just needs to pay attention to its housekeeping," said Alexis Strauss, director of the EPA's regional water division.

Strauss said the announcement that EPA was seeking fines of as much as $157,000 for violations at each of the three facilities was meant in part to put public pressure on the company, which, she noted, was providing an environmental service to environmentally conscious cities.

"I've had a hard time getting their attention," she said.

California Waste Solutions said it has taken steps to fix the problems identified in 2006.

"As a company founded on environmental stewardship, CWS places a high value on compliance with environmental regulations," the company said in a news release.

City officials in Oakland and San Jose said the company has improved pollution control in recent years.

In Oakland, improvements began in about 2005, said Lesley Estes, who manages Oakland's stormwater program.

"We have cited them for stormwater violations in the past and we have fined them for violations in the past," Estes said. "They have made significant efforts to comply."

The Oakland contract is worth $2.8 million per year, city officials said.

In San Jose, the company won a $16 million annual contract to pick up recyclables beginning in 2007. Previously, it had recycled for the city as a subcontractor.

In its short time as a prime contractor, the company has performed well, according to a city official.

"In 2007, we went out and found a couple of issues, but they were minor and they were promptly corrected," said Melody Tovar, the city's deputy director of environmental services. "We have found them to be very responsive, particularly in recent years."

Strauss, however, said recent efforts are not enough to make up for the years of violations and what she described as "recalcitrance." She also said EPA inspectors cited and photographed violations as recently as late 2006 in the company's two Oakland facilities and in early 2007 in San Jose.

"Five years of noncompliance -- they just can't skitter away from this," Strauss said.

Strauss described the company as unusual in its reluctance to address problems cited by her office.

"I can't fathom why it has been advantageous for them to be unresponsive to this," she said.

The company was found liable for Clean Water Act violations in July by an administrative judicial officer with the EPA in San Francisco. EPA officials said they planned to file papers in the next week or two seeking significant fines. After the penalty phase, the company may appeal to an administrative law judge in Washington, D.C.

Mike Taugher covers natural resources. Reach him at 925-943-8257 or mtaugher@bayareanewsgroup.com.