EPA fines another processor

Posted by The Highliner

Posted: August 27, 2008 - 10:24 am

Seems like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has busted just about every fish processor in Alaska on some pollution violation in recent years.

Here's a press release that came in this morning on the latest victim:

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Alaskan Seafood Processor fined $38,000 for Polluting the Kenai River

(Kenai, Alaska – August 27, 2008) Salamatof Seafoods Inc. (Salamatof), an Alaskan seafood processor plant located in Kenai, Alaska has agreed to pay a $38,000 penalty to settle alleged federal Clean Water Act violations.

The Salamatof plant was inspected by EPA and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in 2002, 2005 and 2006 and cited for violations of the company’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The plant discharges seafood processing wastewater into the Kenai River which flows into Cook Inlet.

The alleged violations included:

• the unauthorized discharges of seafood processing waste into the Kenai River;

• the failure to monitor;

• the failure to develop and operate in accordance with an appropriate best management practices plan; and

• the failure to submit annual reports.

According to Kim Ogle, Manager of EPA’s NPDES Compliance Unit in Seattle, it is extremely important for seafood processors like Salamatof to continuously monitor their facility operations.

“In impaired waters like the Kenai River, it is especially critical that Salamatof and other processors comply with the NPDES permit,” said Ogle. “Discharges from seafood processors can have a large impact in Alaskan waters and these permits help to protect these resources.”

The NPDES permit program is a key part of the federal Clean Water Act and controls water pollution by regulating facilities that discharge pollutants to waters in the United States.

For more information about EPA’s NPDES discharge program, visit:

http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/index.cfm

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