American Plating Inc. in Centralia was cited last month for dozens of hazardous waste violations by the Washington Department of Ecology.
A Centralia an electro-plating facility that does custom metalwork at 524 N. Gold Street was cited for dozens of hazardous waste violations following an April 16 inspection by the Department of Ecology.
Ecology found American Plating to be in violation of 13 Washington Administrative Codes including: Accumulated waste remaining on-site for more than 90 days, failure to take appropriate mitigation and control actions after a spill or discharge, failure to meet dangerous waste tank storage requirements and failure to provide an adequate secondary containment system.
Inspectors Ron Kaufmann and Andy Rippert also found copper cyanide residue outside of tanks throughout the plating line and evidence of spills along the walkway inside the facility. Ecology sent American Plating owner Don Meth a list of the violations on July 1, along with a notice to comply within 30 days. Some of the violations listed, including failure to properly label hazardous waste containers and failure to remove accumulated waste within 90 days, were repeat infractions from the prior inspection completed in August 2016.
According to the report, which The Chronicle obtained via a public records request, Ecology reserves the right to take formal enforcement action against the business even if it corrects all the violations. Failure to comply could lead to fines of up to $10,000 per day for each violation.
Meth told The Chronicle on Friday that he was in compliance with “everything Ecology found.” He went on to accuse a Chronicle reporter of harassment and used expletives while expressing his displeasure at being contacted by the newspaper.
“It’s none of your f****** business what’s in that report,” Meth said. “That’s what you’re doing, you’re f****** harassing me about something that’s between me and Ecology, so you can go f*** yourself.”
The inspection narrative provided by Kaufmann in the report states that American Plating reported itself as a small quantity generator (SQG) of dangerous waste on its 2018 Dangerous Waste Annual Report. “Based on waste streams discussed, amount of waste observed on-site and Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifests reviewed, Ecology inspected American Plating as a large quantity generator (LQG),” Kaufmann wrote.
According to the inspection report, Kaufmann and Rippert observed numerous hazardous waste containers not in compliance with state standards. They observed a spent carbon filter that Meth told them had been there for several years, as well as multiple 55-gallon containers of materials contaminated by plating chemicals that were unsealed and not labeled properly.
Before leaving the facility, Kaufmann and Rippert reiterated the problems with American Plating storing waste on-site for more than 90 days and the need for general cleaning throughout the facility.
Per the report, Meth left a voicemail with Rippert stating that Clean Harbors, a provider of environmental and industrial services related to hazardous waste, was compiling profiles of the waste at American Plating. Meth told Rippert on May 3 that he had begun the process of cleaning the floors inside the building and was working with Clean Harbors to properly dispose of unlabeled drums located behind the facility, some of which contained hazardous waste.
“We did observe a number of repeat violations from past inspections at that facility,” Kaufmann told The Chronicle. “The number of containers of waste there stood out to me. Typically what happens is we cite informal violations, facilities have 30 days to submit documentation that they’ve come back into compliance, and then we expect them to stay in compliance. Depending on the nature of the violation, or the extent, we can go to formal enforcement, and that’s always there as an option.”
Jeff Zenk, spokesman for the Southwest Regional office of Ecology, said that consistent repeat violations have drawn additional scrutiny from enforcement staff in recent years. He said that there are many tools available to Ecology for it to work with businesses to stay in compliance while continuing to thrive commercially, but that ultimately, monetary fines don’t accomplish that goal.
“We would like to work with businesses to get them into compliance, and it’s kind of been an ongoing problem in this case,” Zenk said. “There’s been a number of violations throughout the years, but I don’t think there have been any formal financial fines levied. We’re still trying to determine what the best approach is going to be, but ideally it is to get them there through education and processes and for them to stay in compliance.”
