You have to be really special to get EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division involved in your RMP inspection – DONT BE SPECIAL! But once again we have a NH3 refrigeration facility just not “getting it”…
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence P. Donnelly, with the assistance of Dianne Chabot, EPA Regional Criminal Enforcement Counsel and was investigated by the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division.
A cold storage warehouse and ice manufacturing facility that stores over 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia at its facility on the banks of the Seekonk River, was fined $90,000 and placed on federal probation for three years by a federal court judge for REPEATEDLY FAILING to implement a Risk Management Plan (RMP) to be executed in the event of an accidental release of anhydrous ammonia, an extremely hazardous substance. The facility, located in an industrial area adjacent to a residential area, and in the vicinity of an elementary school, was assessed civil penalties by the Environmental Protection Agency as far back as 2012 for failing to develop and submit an RMP, and since has repeatedly been found to contain equipment in need of repair to avoid a potential release of anhydrous ammonia.
Subsequent inspections by EPA, OSHA, and the East Providence Fire Department found the existence of corrosion on ammonia-carrying pipes and on the facility’s high- pressure ammonia receiver; the failure of corrosion-preventing insulation on the pipes; and inadequate inspection, testing, and maintenance of the ammonia piping and receiver.