Respondents owned and operated a seafood processing and cold storage warehouse facility. The Facility is one building that consists of two separate spaces on either side of a dividing wall. One side of the Facility is used for seafood processing and packaging. The other side of the Facility is a cold storage warehouse used to store the packaged seafood. The Facility is located alongside Gloucester’s Inner Harbor in a large and densely populated residential area. It is within half of a mile of hundreds of homes, restaurants, and other businesses and within a quarter of a mile of an elementary school and at least two houses of worship.
At the time relevant to the violations alleged herein, Respondents used anhydrous ammonia in two refrigeration systems at the Facility. The ammonia refrigeration system on the processing and packaging side of the Facility uses approximately 1,543 pounds of anhydrous ammonia, and the ammonia refrigeration system on the storage side of the Facility uses approximately 7,075 pounds of anhydrous ammonia. Accordingly, Respondents “stored” and “handled” anhydrous ammonia, subject to the General Duty Clause.
On September 15, 2022, EPA conducted an inspection at the Facility. The purpose of the Inspection was to determine whether Respondents were complying with Section 112(r) of the CAA and the Emergency Planning and Community Right t o-Know Act. The EPA inspectors toured the Facility’s perimeter, roof, the ammonia machinery room (“AMR”) for each refrigeration system, cold storage spaces on the first and third floors, and the chemical storage area. The Inspection and EPA’s review of information provided by Respondents revealed several potentially dangerous conditions relating to the refrigeration systems.