Providence Journal photo/ Lynn Arditi
Kevin Fitzgerald, regional sales director for PSC, talks about chemical removal in the science lab at Cranston West High School. Cranston Mayor Alan Fung stands to Fitzgerald's left during Friday morning's announcement of the chemical cleanup.
CRANSTON -- A commercial waste handler has agreed to pay a fine of more than $58,000 and remove and dispose of hazardous chemicals such as those used in science and art classes at about 60 schools in Rhode Island and Massachusetts to settle claims with the federal Environmental Protection Agency that the company violated state and federal hazardous waste laws at its facility in Providence.
Northland Environmental and its owner, PSC Environmental Services, will spend more than $252,000 to pack up and properly dispose of both hazardous and non-hazardous wastes stored at the schools; conduct hazardous waste training for science and art teachers; and purchase safety equipment such as storage cabinets for flammable chemicals, eye washes and deluge showers for classrooms where hazardous chemicals are used, EPA officials said at a news conference at Cranston High School West Thursday morning.
The schools are all located within a 50-mile radius of Northland's facility at 275 Allens Ave., Providence, where the violations occurred. The work will be done over the next 18 months, during times when the schools are closed, the EPA said in a statement.
The EPA cited Northland in 2012 with 16 counts of state and federal violations at the Providence facility. EPA officials said at the time that Northland and its owner faced fines of up to $37,500 per violation, per day.
EPA officials said at the time that Northland's businesses is located in an "environmental justice" area, meaning that it has a larger proportion of minority and low-income residents who have historically been exposed to pollutants more than other segments of the population.
Federal EPA officials alleged that Northland/PSC Environmental Services violated the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and state hazardous waste laws by failing to properly identify certain hazardous wastes and failing to properly maintain hazardous waste tanks and containers. The alleged violations could have resulted in the release of hazardous wastes to the environment, officials said. The company also stored incompatible hazardous wastes next to one another, creating a potential for fire or explosions. After the violations were identified, the EPA said, the company quickly corrected them.