Steel plant must pay $825,000 in fines
Foundry ‘disappointed’ in ruling in mismanaging hazardous waste
USS-POSCO Industries must pay an $825,000 fine for illegally storing lead dust and mismanaging hazardous waste at its Pittsburg plant, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control announced Tuesday.
As part of a settlement reached Dec. 12, the steel plant will have to set aside $200,000 of the total amount to pay for the development of an online hazardous waste training course to educate others on environmental regulations.
In a complaint filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court, the State Attorney General’s Office accused the steel finishing plant — a joint venture of U.S. Steel and South Korean steelmaker POSCO — of allowing zinc- and lead-contaminated debris and dust to accumulate in a run-down storage area and be dispersed by wind and rain into the environment.
“We are deeply concerned that UPI (USS-POSCO) knowingly mismanaged hazardous waste and failed to prevent its release into the environment,” Meredith Williams, director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control, said in a written statement Tuesday. “UPI compounded the dangers to its staff, the public and the environment each day it put off compliance with hazardous waste management requirements. This settlement makes clear that ignoring environmental laws carries heavy consequences.”
A spokesman for the 100-year-old foundry said company officials “differed in the interpretation of the facts” and were disappointed in the ruling.
“We don’t believe the penalty is appropriate, but we share the commitment to be sure we are compliant in every way with environmental regulations — and in continuous improvement in our environmental practices and procedures,” USS-POSCO attorney Cory Anderson said.
“There are gray areas under the regulations — reasonable people can disagree to the interpretations. The environmental regulations do give a great deal of discretion, but we felt it was in everyone’s best interest to move on and continue to work to get better.”
In its report, the state agency also said the company failed to do inspections and use waste containers, labels and other forms of proper waste management.
A state agency’s inspection in 2017 uncovered a run-down, walled-off portion of the building where lead- and zinc-contaminated dust and debris collected on the floor and were dispersed through the air to the outdoors, officials said.
The inspectors also noted broken windows, open ceilings, and bird feathers and droppings inside the plant, and samples from the soil immediately surrounding the building showed hazardous levels of lead and zinc, indicating that contaminated dust somehow got outside.
Steel plant employees were instructed by their managers to wear protective equipment when entering the contaminated area of the building, indicating they knew of the dangers posed, according to Department of Toxic Substances Control officials.
Anderson, however, said the two areas referenced in the report were phased out more than 30 years ago and the company already had been working with that same state agency as part of a larger plan to make sure it took appropriate environmental measures.
“It was not a situation in that they were being concealed,” he said. “The Department of Toxic Substances Control has worked with us and had oversight over that very area. The existence of lead was made known decades ago and (environmental) procedures and practices were put into place.”
Anderson said that despite the findings, employees and neighbors “were not placed at risk.”
During the agency’s follow-up inspection in the spring of 2018, inspectors found USS-POSCO was using tanks formerly used for acid wash baths to illegally store liquid and solid hazardous waste, the state agency said in a statement.
“I’m not suggesting we don’t have room for improvement — that is always our goal,” Anderson added. “We were ultimately disappointed in the penalty, but our plan is to get better and better and continue to look for areas to improve. … We have the same goals. We don’t see them as adversaries.”
As part of the settlement, the company agreed to remediate hazardous waste releases at its facility, including the lead- and zinc-contaminated dust and soil.
USS-POSCO, Pittsburg’s largest private employer, produces cold-rolled steel used in furniture, building and automotive components and other goods, galvanized steel for residential and commercial construction, and tin products used primarily in the canning industry.