This column focuses on noteworthy enforcement actions taken by DEP's Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup for January through March 2005. The statements of fact below are DEP allegations and have not necessarily been admitted to by the parties subject to enforcement.

Failure to Notify

• DEP executed an agreement for an $8,000 penalty with a large retailer for failing to notify DEP within two hours of oil spills at two stores as required by the MCP. One spill, a drum of waste oil tipped over in the parking lot, in an act of vandalism by an unknown party, causing a release into storm drains that enter a retention pond. The company was aware of the spill at 12:00AM on August 12, and took appropriate steps to initiate the cleanup on the morning of August 12, but did not notify DEP of the release until 1:00PM on August 12. The second release at a different location was discovered on December 28, 2004 during repair of a solid waste compactor at the store. The company arranged for cleanup of the release of greater than 10 gallons of hydraulic fluid on December 28, 2004 but DEP was not notified of the spill until January 4, 2005. ACOP-WE-04-3017

• DEP executed an agreement with a petroleum trucking company for failure to notify DEP of a spill of fuel oil within two hours as required by the MCP. The company was assessed a penalty of $8,630, with $4,630 to be suspended pending compliance with the agreement. The company has agreed to perform response actions in a timely manner and has also submitted a spill contingency plan. ACOP-CE-05-3E001

Enforcement from Audits

• DEP executed an agreement with an auto parts retailer for a $55,000 penalty for failure to come into compliance with the MCP based on violations identified during a DEP audit of an Activity and Use Limitation (AUL) and Response Outcome Statement (RAO). In addition to the penalty, the agreement contains a schedule to perform the required response actions. ACOP-SE-05-3A-001

Deadline Enforcement

• enalty for failure to clean up gasoline contamination at one of its service stations. The release was originally reported to DEP in the late 1980's; comprehensive response actions did not start until late 2000. In early 2004, DEP issued a Notice of Noncompliance (NON) to the company for failing to complete the cleanup in a timely manner. In addition to the penalty, the company agreed to finish the cleanup within established deadlines and in compliance with the MCP. ACOP-NE-04-3A028

• DEP executed an agreement with a r ailroad corporation for a $35,000 penalty for the company's failure to continue response actions in compliance with the MCP from May 2003 to November 2004, at three different locations. The agreement requires that the railroad pursue remedial response actions at these three locations in a timely manner, including additional assessment activities to delineate the source and extent of a solvent plume in a residential area, remedial investigations into proactive recovery of separate phase oil, generation of r analytical data to evaluate the success of past remedial actions in one location, and submittal of Immediate Response Action Status Reports to address separate phase oil. In addition to paying a $35,000 penalty, the railroad has agreed to hire an outside independent contractor to perform a training program for its employees at an additional cost of $17, 800. The training program involves implementation of a RCRA Hazardous Waste Management training course. The training course will be for all field personnel, will be a minimum of 2 hours in length and will cover the proper use and handling of oil, waste oil and hazardous waste, and is to be completed by November 1, 2005. ACOP-WE-04-3019

• DEP executed an agreement with a car rental company for a $20,000 penalty for the company's failure to clean up gasoline contamination in a timely manner. The site was originally reported in 1992 and was classified as a Tier II site in 1995. No comprehensive response actions were conducted after that date. Following the enforcement action, an RAO has been submitted for the site. ACOP-NE-04-3A020

• DEP executed an agreement with the owner of a property for failure to conduct comprehensive response actions at a site and achieve an RAO within the deadlines established in a NON issued by DEP on May 12, 2003. Compliance deadlines were set in the agreement with the submittal of an RAO within one year. The property owner agreed to pay a $20,000 administrative penalty, with an additional penalty of $50,000 suspended, pending compliance with the agreement. ACOP-NE-04-3A025
  
  
• DEP issued a unilateral penalty for $30,000 each to two owners of an industrial property for failure to undertake required response actions involving the assessment and removal of oil and hazardous material at the site. Response actions to remediate the site have not been done despite issuance of previous NONs in 1998 and the issuance of a Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO) to the owners by the DEP in July 2004. The DEP first identified the site as a potential oil and/or hazardous material disposal site in August 1980. The site is contaminated by lead, benzo(a)pyrene, Aroclor 1248 (PCBs) and endosulfan. The site also contained numerous drums containing unknown materials. On September 16, 1999, the Department issued a Notice of Response Action to one owner indicating DEP's intent to conduct response actions. USEPA conducted testing on the site in March 2001, which again revealed the presence of hazardous materials in soils. A copy of the report summarizing the findings was mailed to the property owners. On May 13, 2003 the DEP issued a Notice to the owners requiring that assessment work be done and that 20 abandoned drums and their contents be removed. On July 11, 2003, the DEP, through use of a contractor, removed the drums after the owners failed to undertake response actions. PAN-WE-05-3002 and PAN-WE-05-3003

Stipulated Penalties

• DEP issued a demand for $59,000 in stipulated and suspended penalties for violations of compliance deadlines established in a previous administrative settlement with DEP to conduct Phase II, III and IV. Shortly after the Phase II/III deadline was missed in early 2004, DEP held an enforcement conference with the violator, but a negotiated resolution could not be reached. ACOP-NE-03-3A003-STIP-SUSP

LSP Enforcement

• DEP issued a NON to the LSP-of-Record of a site where a Release Abatement Measure (RAM) was conducted prior to submittal of a RAM Plan to DEP. The RAM Plan was submitted on August 18, 2000 and according to the bill of lading, contaminated soil removal occurred on December 9, 1998. NON-WE-05-3033