Army to pay for hazardous waste violations

The Army has agreed to pay $19,950 for hazardous waste violations after allowing chromium and other waste to linger too long at a renovation project.

The Anniston Army Depot removed the ventilation system at its chrome plating facility last year. It needed to be replaced in a renovation of the building, said depot environmental attorney Mickey Starling.

"You have to move your hazardous waste from temporary storage within 90 days," Starling said.

Instead, the Department of Defense agency responsible for removing the Dumpster-sized bins of waste was slow, and depot workers failed to make sure they always moved the oldest bins out first, Starling said.

"We learned a valuable lesson," Starling said. "We've actually appointed someone to do that full time - to monitor hazardous waste roll-off boxes full time and make sure they're moved on time."

He said the Army notified the state that it was violating hazardous waste laws, as is required by law.

According to the agreement between the Army and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the state inspected the site last October and found a 10-month-old bin of waste.

The compromise agreement also listed numerous violations such as open containers and illegible labels. However, the fine was relatively low for a hazardous waste violation because the violations were unintentional, self-reported and resulted in no harm to the environment, Starling said.

The ventilation system was classified as hazardous waste because of the high probability that it contained chromium and cadmium and other hazardous substances.

"Over the years that material can adhere to the walls and that sort of thing," said ADEM spokesman Scott Hughes.