U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a Fish Processor pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Anchorage to a charge of illegal dumping of ammonia into the Kodiak city sewer. The Fish Processor was sentenced today by Chief United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline, to three years of probation, and $205,000 in criminal penalties, $55,000 of which is to be directed to the City of Kodiak for hazardous waste response training and equipment for sewer and fire department employees. The terms of probation ordered by Judge Beistline also require that the Fish Processor comply with an Environmental Compliance Plan that includes, among other things, training for all employees at all five facilities in Alaska regarding proper handling of hazardous wastes and specifically ammonia.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea “Aunnie” Steward, on November 29, 2011, employees at its facility dumped approximately 40 pounds of ammonia waste from its refrigeration system into the Kodiak city sewer. The ammonia odor was detected by employees at the sewage plant for Kodiak. The Kodiak Fire Department was asked to help locate the source of the ammonia. The chief engineer for the Fish Processor facility at first denied discharging the ammonia when asked about the ammonia odor. Sewer employees then traced the discharge back to the Fish Processor facility, at which time the chief engineer admitted to the discharge. The discharge of the ammonia by the facility wiped out the secondary treatment at the sewer system and caused the sewer system to violate its Clean Water Act permit.
A joint investigation by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation determined that the facility had been discharging ammonia into the St. Paul Harbor before and after the sewer incident in violation of its Clean Water Act permit. The facility disputes the illegality of the ammonia discharges into St. Paul Harbor that occurred prior to the entry of its guilty plea but agrees that in the future such discharges will be prohibited.
The chief engineer that directed the discharge at the facility is scheduled to be arraigned in state court on Friday, March 14, 2014, at 9:30 a.m., on a charge of violating the permit regulated by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.