Chemical company settles alleged environmental violations in Providence, other cities
PROVIDENCE – Chemical giant Univar Solutions has agreed to pay $800,000 as part of a settlement with the federal government over alleged violations of chemical-accident prevention requirements at its facilities in the Port of Providence as well as locations in Pennsylvania and Colorado.
The consent agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency addresses failures under the Clean Air Act, which – among other things – requires facilities that handle hazardous substances to ensure that they are handled safely and to prevent accidental chemical releases.
Univar, headquartered in Illinois, mixes and packages specialty chemicals for shipment to hundreds of facilities across the country. The company distributes chemicals used throughout New England from two facilities in and adjacent to the Port of Providence, which is located at Fields Point near low-income and minority neighborhoods that are designated by the state as environmental justice communities.
Pollution and safety are continuing concerns in those areas, with some calling for fossil-fuel, chemical and industrial activities in and around the port to be shut down or cleaned up.
Community members lost their fight against a liquefied natural gas plant proposed by National Grid near the port that won approval in 2018, but more recently got what they wanted when state regulators rejected a fast-track approval to expand an existing propane facility and the owners ultimately dropped the proposal.
The settlement with the EPA requires Univar to pay $600,000 in penalties and $200,000 to buy emergency-response equipment for fire departments in Colorado and Pennsylvania.
The agreement also directs the company to adopt necessary safety measures at its facilities.
“Environmental requirements like the General Duty Clause are necessary to ensure the safe management of chemicals and to reduce the risk of industrial accidents in communities, especially those that are most vulnerable,” Larry Starfield, acting assistant administrator in EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in reference to a key provision of the Clean Air Act.
The violations were discovered during EPA inspections between 2016 and 2019 of five Univar facilities: the two in Providence, a processing plant and a distribution facility; and one each in Bunola and Middletown, Pennsylvania, and Denver, Colorado. A notice of violation was issued to Univar in 2021.
The rules breaches related to care and handling of certain regulated chemicals, including anhydrous ammonia, aqueous ammonia, chlorine and formaldehyde. The chemicals are classified as “extremely hazardous substances” under the Clean Air Act. The safety requirements are in place to prevent accidental releases of chemical that could expose communities to hazardous substances.
The violations alleged in Providence relate to both Univar’s harborside processing plant, which handles thousands of pounds of chemicals at any one time, and its storage and distribution facility on Terminal Road. Among a host of other allegations, the company failed to store chemicals properly at both sites, didn’t adequately cover flammable liquids, didn’t label pipes and storage tanks and lacked safety signage.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Chemical company settles allegations of Clean Air Act rules with $800k
