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Press Release  AG’s Office Reaches Settlement With Springfield Warehousing and Transportation Facility for Illegally Discharging Stormwater

Settlement to Fund the Improvement of Water Quality in the Chicopee River, the Maintenance of Local Trails, and the Planting of New Trees
For immediate release:
12/11/2020
  • Office of Attorney General Maura Healey

Media Contact   for AG’s Office Reaches Settlement With Springfield Warehousing and Transportation Facility for Illegally Discharging Stormwater

Chloe Gotsis

BOSTON The company that operates a warehousing and transportation facility in Springfield has agreed to pay a total of $50,000 – the majority of which will fund local water quality improvement projects – to settle allegations that it illegally discharged industrial stormwater into a tributary of the Chicopee River, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

The consent decree, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and pending court approval, settles allegations that Sulco Warehousing & Logistics, LLC and Sullivan Holyoke Property Associates, Inc. violated the Federal Clean Water Act when they illegally discharged industrial stormwater from the facility into the City of Springfield’s municipal storm drain system and into Poor Brook, a tributary of the Chicopee River, without obtaining and complying with a required federal industrial stormwater discharge permit. The neighborhood surrounding the facility has been identified by the state and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an environmental justice community disproportionately subjected to environmental harms and risks.

“Industrial stormwater dirties our state’s waterways and puts our aquatic wildlife at serious risk,” AG Healey said. “This settlement will benefit the community and help improve the water quality of the Chicopee River by funding the maintenance of trails along the river, erosion control, and the planting of new trees in the surrounding area.”

Stormwater pollution is regulated under a variety of federal Clean Water Act permits and is recognized as the largest threat to water quality in the state. Certain industrial facilities in Massachusetts like this one must obtain specific authorization for stormwater discharges, properly monitor and control stormwater discharges, and comply with state water protection laws. The AG’s Office alleges that the companies failed to take these required actions at their Springfield facility.

The companies park and store vehicles and other transportation and industrial equipment uncovered outside on several acres of impervious surface, adjacent to Poor Brook. Stormwater discharges from transportation and warehousing facilities are likely to contain pollutants such as oil, hydraulic fluids, arsenic, heavy metals and fuel. These pollutants can cause significant deterioration of aquatic ecosystems. The pollutants also have the potential to harm human health.

Under the terms of the consent decree, Sulco Warehousing & Logistics is required to pay $30,000 to ReGreen Springfield, an organization working to restore the City of Springfield’s urban forest. ReGreen Springfield will perform work in the Delta Hills Conservation Area to enhance the water quality of Poor Brook by stabilizing eroded stream banks and planting native plants and trees. The settlement also requires the company to pay the state $20,000 to offset the costs of the AG’s enforcement efforts and for future monitoring of the companies’ compliance with the consent decree.

Today’s announcement is part of a civil enforcement initiative out of AG Healey’s Environmental Protection Division that focuses on combatting pollution by enforcing the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act and the federal Clean Air Act in Massachusetts, along with applicable state environmental laws. This will be the ninth settlement from the initiative since its inception in 2018. These settlements have recovered nearly $600,000 for local environmental improvement projects and civil penalties.

This case was handled by Special Assistant Attorney General Nora Chorover and Attorney Emily Mitchell, both of AG Healey’s Environmental Protection Division.

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Media Contact   for AG’s Office Reaches Settlement With Springfield Warehousing and Transportation Facility for Illegally Discharging Stormwater

  • Office of the Attorney General 

    Attorney General Maura Healey is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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