- Feb. 23, 2007: Attorney General Goddard and ADEQ Director Owens Announce Honeywell to Pay $500,000 Penalty for Hazardous Waste Violations in Mohave County
- Feb. 21, 2007: ADEQ to Hold Summit on Illegal Dumping
- Feb. 13, 2007: ADEQ Director Owens Hosts Dedication of Upgraded Treatment System at South Shannon Water Facility
- Feb. 2, 2007: ADEQ Issues Tough Water Quality Permit for Bella Terra Wastewater Treatment Plant Near Sedona
- Feb. 1, 2007: ADEQ Director Steve Owens Announces Beginning of Gorman Avenue Brownfields Site Cleanup in Winslow
PHOENIX (Feb. 23, 2007) -- Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Steve Owens announced today that Honeywell International, Inc. will pay a $500,000 penalty under a consent judgment with ADEQ for hazardous waste violations in Mohave County.
In September 2005, ADEQ inspectors discovered that the Honeywell Aircraft Landing Systems facility in Kingman, an FAA-certified repair and overhaul station for aircraft wheels and brakes, was operating two natural gas-fired hazardous waste thermal treatment units without the required hazardous waste treatment permit.
"I am committed to enforcing hazardous waste laws," Goddard said. "These laws protect our communities, and I will continue to seek penalties from companies that violate these laws."
Owens stated, "Arizona's hazardous waste laws and regulations were established for protection of the public and the environment. This penalty reflects the serious nature of the violations at Honeywell's Kingman facility."
ADEQ issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to Honeywell Kingman on Nov. 15, 2005, for thermally treating its hazardous waste without a permit, failing to submit signed manifests, failing to properly label each container and tank as hazardous waste, failing to inform employees of proper handling and emergency procedures and failing to comply with personnel training requirements.
ADEQ also found that Honeywell was underreporting its hazardous waste, inaccurately classifying it as solid waste by using an incorrect regulatory level for cadmium, an element that may irritate the digestive tract, cause kidney disease and damage the lungs. Cadmium stays in the body and can build up from many years of exposure to low levels.
The consent judgment is subject to court approval.
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PHOENIX (Feb. 21, 2007) -- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Steve Owens today announced that ADEQ is holding an Illegal Dumping Summit to bring together community leaders from throughout the state to address issues relating to cleanup, enforcement, education and funding.
The Illegal Dumping Summit will take place 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 22, at the Carnegie Library, 1101 W. Washington St. in Phoenix, directly across the street from ADEQ. The Summit is free and open to the public.
Nearly 50 county and other community officials from around the state are scheduled to attend, including municipal, tribal and county officials from Apache, Coconino, Gila, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal and Yuma counties.
ADEQ has an ongoing effort to address the problem of illegal dumping throughout Arizona and has established a program to work with local officials to prevent illegal dumping and clean up illegal dump sites.
"Dealing with the problem of illegal dumping is a priority," Director Owens said. "Illegal dumping poses a serious threat to public health and the environment and can lower property values as well. We are committed to working with local leaders to address this major problem in our state."
For information and registration, please see our web page, or contact Laura Newman, (602) 771-4459 or (800) 234-5677; fax: (602) 771-2383
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TUCSON (Feb. 13, 2007) -- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Steve Owens and officials from the Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District today hosted a dedication ceremony and tour of the recently upgraded South Shannon water facility.
"The upgrades to this vital facility will ensure that the treated water continues to meet federal and state safe drinking water standards," Owens told the officials, staff and residents who came to tour the facility at 5781 N. Shannon Road in Tucson. "Protecting precious drinking water supplies is a top priority for ADEQ."
The original wellhead treatment system was installed by Metro Water District in 1997 after groundwater contamination was discovered and the area was designated a state Superfund site under the Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund (WQARF) program. The Metro Water District serves 50,000 customers.
The new 750 gallon-per-minute treatment system, which has been operating since June 2006, removes contaminants when water flows through a bed of granular carbon. To guarantee an uninterrupted flow of safe drinking water, the system includes two filter vessels, each holding 20,000 pounds of granular carbon. Metro Water District must also report drinking water samples to ADEQ monthly.
ADEQ paid the $1,017,000 cost for the design and construction of the new treatment system through its WQARF program funds.
ADEQ is continuing to work on cleaning up tetrachloroethene (PCE) contamination from the groundwater at the site.
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PHOENIX (Feb. 2, 2007) -- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Steve Owens today announced that ADEQ has issued a water quality permit for the proposed Bella Terra wastewater treatment plant near Sedona in Yavapai County.
In 2006 the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors approved Bella Terra on Oak Creek as a new subdivision consisting of 106 lots on 53.5 acres bordering Oak Creek. ADEQ was not involved in the county's zoning decision.
The permit, known as an Aquifer Protection Permit (APP),�regulates the operation of the wastewater treatment plant currently planned for the Bella Terra on Oak Creek development in Sedona. Based on the number of lots and occupancy figures at the subdivision, the treatment plant will generate less than 25,000 gallons of treated wastewater per day at maximum capacity.
"This is the toughest water quality permit ever issued for a facility of this size," Director Owens said. "Under this permit, Oak Creek and precious groundwater resources in the Sedona area will be protected to the highest level possible."
Effluent from the plant will be disposed into three separate disposal fields using a subsurface irrigation system, and is required to meet Class A+ Reclaimed Water Quality Standards, the highest water quality standard. No effluent disposal is allowed in Oak Creek or Carroll Canyon Wash.�To further protect Oak Creek and Carroll Canyon Wash from any impacts, a required monitoring well, known as a sentinel well, will provide an "early warning system" before any impacts to Oak Creek or Carroll Canyon Wash can occur. ADEQ is also requiring the developer to demonstrate increased financial capability in the amount of $600,000 to cover construction, operation, closure and proper post-closure care of the wastewater treatment plant.
Treatment at the plant includes equalization to distribute the flow for optimal treatment, denitrification, secondary clarification and tertiary filtration. In addition, the permit requires ultraviolet disinfection instead of disinfection by chlorine to prevent production of by-products capable of impacting groundwater or Oak Creek and to eliminate any possibility of exposure to chlorine gas by community members.
Owens noted that if the wastewater treatment plant were not built, Bella Terra residents would need to install septic systems, which would expose the groundwater and wash to the high risk of contamination. The wastewater treatment plant will produce one-third of the total nitrogen and less than one-millionth of the bacteria, including E. Coli, that would be produced by those septic systems, because, unlike the treatment plant, septic tanks do not treat wastewater or otherwise remove contaminants from wastewater.
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PHOENIX (Feb. 1, 2007) -- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Steve Owens today announced that ADEQ has signed a contract for a $50,000 Brownfields grant to the City of Winslow in Navajo County to clean up a parcel of land on Gorman Avenue near Route 66.
The 80-acre site, where the city plans to build housing and community service facilities, will undergo an Environmental Site Assessment (ESA), which will determine if the site has been contaminated by illegal dumping. The City has owned the land for the past 20 years. The ESA is expected to be complete by the end of June 2007. The ADEQ Brownfields Program will serve as project manager.
"We look forward to working with Winslow to clean up these properties and put them back into productive use for the community," Owens said. "Our Brownfields program reduces environmental hazards and makes it possible to put these properties to work once again."
The Gorman Avenue site is about half a mile from the Standin' on the Corner site, which is also being cleaned up under an ADEQ Brownfields grant. "Winslow has been a real leader in cleaning up properties through the Brownfields program," Owens added. "We are delighted to continue to work with Mayor Affeldt and other city officials on this important effort."
A brownfield is an abandoned or under-used property with an active redevelopment potential that suffers from known or perceived environmental contamination.
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