A Missouri company will pay more than $130,000 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to settle allegations it violated federal requirements to submit records of how much toxic chemicals it was using annually, the EPA announced recently.
Champion Brands LLC, a producer and seller of automotive lubricants, allegedly violated the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) by failing to submit annual reports that detail releases of toxic chemicals at its Clinton, Mo., facility, EPA states in the Feb. 22 announcement. The company will pay a total of $130,243 in penalties, according to the announcement.
“Communities, particularly those that are already overburdened by pollution, have a right to know about toxic chemicals in their area,” Wendy Lubbe, acting director of EPA Region 7’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division, said in the announcement.
EPA reports its audit of company records revealed Champion Brands "manufactured, processed, or otherwise used quantities of toxic chemicals above thresholds that require the company to submit annual reports to EPA," the agency states in the announcement. The violations occurred in 2016, 2017 and 2018, the EPA reports.
The company's Clinton plant is located in an economically disadvantaged community, according to the EPA, which was a factor in the investigation. The EPA stated the agency is reinforcing enforcement of environmental laws in historically depressed areas adversely impacted by local industrial operations.
EPA states that the EPCRA-required reports from U.S. companies on their hazardous-substance handling is compiled into data used by government agencies, industries, businesses and others when deciding future obligations.
“Failure to report such data also prevents governments and industry from using this important information for research," Lubbe said in the announcement, "and in the development of regulations, guidelines, and air quality standards.”
