Fined for Over-reporting

A California company has been fined by the EPA for over-reporting the amount of nitric acid used at its plant in 1999 and 2000. The facility uses the nitric acid to clean equipment used to produce powdered milk and ice cream. The company will pay $5,000 for failing to accurately report its amount of toxic chemicals, a violation of the federal community right-to-know law. The Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act requires certain facilities using chemicals over certain amounts to file annual reports of chemical releases with the EPA and with the state. The reports estimate the amounts of each toxic chemical released to the environment, treated or recycled on-site, or transferred off-site for waste management. Information is then compiled into a national database and made available to the public.

“Our toxics database is only as good as the information we receive from the facilities,” said EPA's Cross Media Division director for the Pacific Southwest. EPA inspectors discovered the alleged violations during a routine inspection in 2002. As part of the settlement, a company representative will attend an EPA workshop on compliance with toxic release reporting requirements. Each year the EPA publishes a report entitled the Toxic Release Inventory Public Data Release, which summarizes the prior year's submissions and provides detailed trend analysis of toxic chemical releases.

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