EPA heightens enforcement of environmental rules, regs

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday declared that enforcement actions in the Pacific region, including the CNMI, increased this year by 40 percent from 2004 efforts.

In the CNMI, the EPA said it has taken six enforcement actions so far this year, including its order directing the Commonwealth Health Center to stop operating its medical waste incinerator. The EPA said it took two enforcement actions in the CNMI last year.

In a media statement, the EPA said those efforts help improve environmental quality and benefit public health.

“Island residents will enjoy cleaner air, water and land for years to come as a result of the EPA working to enforce environmental laws. Complying with environmental regulations is a requirement for improved public health,” said Wayne Nastri, administrator for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region.

The EPA said this year’s enforcement actions in the Pacific now total 38, higher than 2004’s 27. Besides implementing six enforcement actions in the CNMI this year, the EPA also took 10 and 22 enforcement actions in American Samoa and Guam, respectively.

In the CNMI, the EPA not only compelled the CHC to stop operating its incinerator for failure to comply with the requirements of the Clean Air Act, but it also directed the Commonwealth Ports Authority to clean up and improve its treatment, handling, storage and disposal of used oil and hazardous wastes at the Saipan International Airport.

The EPA also cited the sentencing of former Commonwealth Utilities Corp. laboratory manager Pedro Q. Babauta to one-year imprisonment on charges that he submitted false documents to the environmental agency to conceal the true microbiological content of the utility firm’s drinking water. Saipan’s federal court also sanctioned Babauta with a $5,000 fine.

Two private companies also became subjects of EPA’s enforcement this year, including Clean Earth Co., which the federal agency ordered to correct oil spill prevention violations at the company’s Puerto Rico, Saipan facility.

In March 2005, EPA inspectors discovered 2,000 gallons of used oil and 85 severely corroded and leaking containers of used oil at the facility of JG Sablan Rock Quarry, Inc. The EPA ordered that company to conduct a cleanup and correct its handling of used oil.