EPA orders CUC to clean up spilled oil

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday ordered the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to clean up spilled oil and prevent oil discharges at its Lower Base facility and warned the agency that it will be fined $32,500 per day if it will not comply.

CUC must immediately stop all oil discharges and take steps to prevent future spills at the agency’s Power Plants 1 and 2, according to Daniel Meer, manager of EPA Pacific Southwest Region’s Emergency Response, Planning and Assessment Branch in San Francisco.

EPA gave CUC 30 days to submit a proposal and work plan for EPA approval to clean up the site and ensure there is no threat of oil discharge to the environment and from its drum storage area.

When contacted by [I]Saipan Tribune[/I] for comment, CUC deputy director for administration Grina Mizutani said the agency’s officials had a meeting yesterday to discuss the issue.

“We will be putting our response together,” Mizutani said, adding that CUC deputy director Patrick Deleon Guerrero is expected to come up with a statement to the media by today.

The EPA order requires CUC to develop a used oil management and disposal program aimed at reducing the amount of used oil stored at the Lower Base facility.

“CUC will need to submit monthly progress reports to the EPA until work is completed. Failure to comply with the order could result in fines of $32,500 per day of violation,” Meer said.

In August 2005, EPA inspectors cited CUC for failing to test above ground storage tanks and for failure to clean up oil contamination. Inspectors reportedly noted the drum storage area as having accumulations of spilled oil.

Two months later, EPA issued an expedited settlement agreement to allow CUC to correct the problem.

But in February, EPA said, CUC had accumulated about 143,000 gallons of used oil in 2,600 55-gallon drums and had nearly 500,000 total gallons of used oil on site.

In May 2006, EPA inspectors discovered drums outside the spill containment areas during a revisit to the site.

The inspectors noted that some of the drums were in poor condition and others were broken, spilling their contents onto the ground adjacent to the Tanapag Lagoon.

Inspectors found oil-contaminated soil in areas outside the containment area, while other drums had spilled and were not cleaned up within the containment area.

“It is important that facilities take all the measures needed, including proper disposal of used oil, to prevent contaminating the environment,” Meer said.

“Ocean ecosystems and marine species are easily harmed by oil spills that could be prevented with the proper planning and spill containment,” he pointed out.

The EPA official further explained that oil spills and other contamination from onshore sources can pollute and harm coral and marine life.

EPA requires near shore oil storage facilities to have their spill response plans certified by a professional engineer, and have spill prevention measures in place to prevent oil from being discharged into the ocean.