New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Chemical manufacturer cited by the EPA
WEST HAVEN — A Connecticut chemical manufacturer was cited by federal regulators for failing to properly label and store potentially hazardous materials at its West Haven facility, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
The EPA announced a settlement of $86,769 with the manufacturer, MacDermid Enthone, for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. As part of the settlement, the company also certified to regulators that it had corrected all violations and implemented new compliance protocols.
“Because of EPA’s action, this facility has substantially improved its hazardous waste storage and handling practices,” EPA New England Acting Regional Administrator Deborah Szaro said in a statement released by the EPA on Wednesday.
MacDermid Enthone’s U.S. operations are based in Waterbury, according to its website. The company’s West Haven facility produces plating chemicals that are used to make semiconductors, according to the EPA.
Phone calls to the West Haven facility were unanswered this week. The company did not respond to a request for comment submitted to its corporate headquarters.
According to the EPA’s announcement of the settlement, an inspection of the West Haven facility found that workers there had failed to properly label hazardous waste containers or determine whether some of the chemicals produced as waste at the facility were hazardous.
The facility also lacked adequate aisle space in its hazardous waste storage area for employees and emergency responders to move in properly.
According to EPA records , the violations at the West Haven facility were identified during an inspection in March 2020. The company was listed as a “significant noncomplier” during the first three quarters of this year, before those issues were resolved in the quarter beginning in October.
The facility has also had a recent history of violations of the Clean Water Act, records show, though no penalties have been handed down by the EPA.
During the settlement, MacDermid also removed a 500-gallon underground hazardous waste storage tank from the facility. The EPA did not state whether the removal of the tank was a requirement of the settlement.
In August, West Haven officials approved plans for MacDermid Enthone to expand its facility along Frontage Road by constructing a new prefabricated building with space for offices, manufacturing, lab work and warehousing. The company’s presence in West Haven dates back more than 50 years, the New Haven Register has previously reported.
The company’s environmental record was stained in 2001, when two officials plead guilty to charges of criminal negligence as part of a scheme to dump toxic wastewater into the Naugatuck River near Waterbury.
Officials hid the dumping from state regulators by testing wastewater samples at company labs before sending selected samples to the Department of Environmental Protection, the Associated Press reported.