Former Owners of New England Gas Company Face $67 Million Fines for Illegal Mercury Storage

A former owner of the New England Gas Company faces up to over $66 million in fines related to illegal storage of mercury, according to the Department of Justice.

According to an investigation conducted by various state and federal environmental departments, the Southern Union Company, former owners of the New England Gas Company, allegedly stored mercury supplies in their Pawtucket, Rhode Island facility on Tidewater Street, located at the edge of the Seekonk River. They also reportedly failed to report a spillage within that facility.

As stated in the indictment, the Southern Union Company started removing gas regulators with mercury from their customer's homes in 2001. Although environmental services companies were hired and supervised proper mercury removal from the regulators at the Pawtucket site, their contract expired at the end of that year. Investigators allege that Southern Union continued to remove the mercury-containing regulators and stored them at the facility.

According to the indictment, proposals to properly remove the mercury were drafted annually from 2002 until 2004, but none were submitted for bids so that professional contractors could remove the mercury. The indictment states that 165 regulators still containing mercury were stored at the facility, some in plastic kiddie pools. Glass jars and plastic jugs were allegedly being used to store more than a gallon of mercury.

In September 2004, the facility- often criticized by its workers for not being safe- was broken into, according to the indictment. Three youths broke into the mercury storage area, stole liquid mercury, and ended up spilling some on the facility grounds. The stolen mercury was found in a nearby apartment complex where the youths had spread it around the grounds. Investigators also discovered that pools of mercury had remained on the facility grounds for over 21 days.

Although in October 2004 Southern Union hired environmental specialists to remove the mercury, they allegedly failed to report the spill to the state fire marshal and the Pawtucket Fire Department. Both failures to report would be a violation of federal regulations.

At a rate of $50,000 a day in maximum fines for illegal mercury storage multiplied by 762 days of the alleged storage, the total fines could be $66, 850,000. Failing to report the spill carries a maximum fine of $500,000.

The information gathered for this indictment was done in a joint effort by the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Office of Criminal Investigation.

SOURCE:

PR Newswire

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