DOVER – DNREC Secretary David Small has issued a cease and desist order to Heritage-Crystal Clean, LLC for violations of Delaware’s laws and regulations governing hazardous waste management.

Heritage-Crystal Clean, LLC (HCC) owns and operates a used oil recycling facility located at 505 South Market Street in Wilmington that previously did business as International Petroleum Corp. (IPC) of Delaware.

On Feb. 21, HCC shipped a load of waste generated from the company’s cleaning of onsite tanks for subsequent processing (solidification) and offsite treatment. During transport, some of the waste material was released from the vehicle carrying it and spilled onto Pennsylvania roadways. Pennsylvania state officials are investigating that release.

An investigation by DNREC’s Solid & Hazardous Waste Management Section has determined that, based on analytical data provided by HCC, the leaking container (vacuum box V-414) and six other containers exceeded the regulatory limit for total organic halogens. Delaware’s hazardous waste regulations include a provision that presumes any used oil exceeding the regulatory limit for total organic halogens is hazardous waste. Additionally, company data revealed that HCC’s vacuum box V-414 contained waste that exceeded the regulatory limit for benzene, thus characterizing the transported material as hazardous waste.

Based on that information, HCC failed to make an accurate hazardous waste determination and failed to utilize a hazardous waste manifest for the shipments. The cease and desist order requires that HCC immediately cease operations involving emptying and cleaning out onsite tanks. The order also requires HCC to submit a plan describing how the contents of remaining onsite tanks will be sampled and analyzed to ensure accurate hazardous waste determinations are made prior to shipping them offsite.

HCC pled guilty on behalf of IPC in US District Court in Wilmington Feb. 2 to environmental crimes, including failing to properly characterize waste generated from the cleanout of onsite tanks and failing to utilize a hazardous waste manifest for those shipments. HCC’s guilty plea for environmental crimes resulted in the company’s being sentenced to pay $1.3 million in fines to the federal government and make $2.2 million in restitution to the City of Wilmington.

The cease and desist order can be found on DNREC’s website at http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/Info/Pages/SecOrders_Enforcement.aspx.

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 47, No. 57

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DOVER – DNREC Secretary David Small has issued a Cease and Desist Order to McGinnis Auto & Mobile Home Salvage, LLC, for violations of 7 Delaware Administrative Code and Delaware’s Regulations Governing Solid Waste.  The Order requires the company to stop receiving and dismantling mobile homes; to properly dispose of or recycle all solid wastes and piles of construction and demolition waste on the premises; to provide certain documentation for business activities; and to submit a completed Resource Recovery Facility Permit Application.

McGinnis Auto & Mobile Home Salvage, LLC, located at 4160 Downs Chapel Road in Clayton, received a Notice of Violation (NOV) from DNREC in August 2015 citing the company for operating a materials recovery facility without a permit and improper disposal of a solid waste. The facility failed to come fully into compliance with the NOV and a follow-up site visit in March 2016 found that violations were ongoing – including, but not limited to, operating without a permit.

The Secretary’s Order can be found  on the DNREC website at http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/Info/Pages/SecOrders_Enforcement.aspx.

CONTACT: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 287

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DOVER (May 2, 2013) – DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara has suspended a permit for Mike Davidson Enterprises, LLC that allowed the resource recovery facility to accept, process, and recycle construction and demolition waste. The suspension was handed down via Secretary’s Order after the company failed to address repeated environmental violations and after Mike Davidson Enterprises, LLC discounted a cease and desist order issued by DNREC. The Secretary’s Order prohibits the facility, located west of Camden in Kent County, from accepting any solid waste including recyclable materials and requires Mike Davidson Enterprises, LLC to take steps to protect public health and the environment.

The suspension of the permit is in effect until Mike Davidson Enterprises, LLC demonstrates to DNREC’s Solid & Hazardous Waste Management Section that it is capable of operating the resource recovery facility lawfully and in compliance with the permit and with Delaware’s Regulations Governing Solid Waste (DRGSW) 7 DE Admin. Code 1301.

Mike Davidson Enterprises, LLC, was cited for 22 violations many of which were ongoing while the company continued in operation. Violations included:

• Managing solid waste outside of allowed areas;
• Failure to operate the facility in a manner that precludes degradation of land, air, surface water or groundwater;
• Failure to operate the facility consistent with the approved plan of operation;
• Failure to process construction and demolition (C&D) waste within 72 hours;
• Storage of recyclable materials in unapproved areas;
• Failure to dispose of non-recyclable waste materials within 72 hours;
• Failure to timely submit complete annual reports to DNREC;
• Failure to properly update the closure plan to be submitted annually;
• Failure to operate the facility only during approved hours of operation;
• Failure of the weigh master to inspect all incoming loads of C&D waste as per the approved plan of operation and the permit;
• Failure to transfer sorted C&D waste to roll-off containers;
• Failure to place incoming C&D waste on concrete pad for sorting and inspection;
• Failure to send non-recyclable waste for proper disposal within 72 hours of roll-off containers becoming full;
• Failure to use covered roll-off containers for storage of sorted wallboard;
• Failure to maintain proper size of wood mulch piles as per the permit;
• Failure to limit total waste at the facility at any one time to 2,400 tons as per the permit and the approved plan of operation;
• Failure to maintain proper fire protection service as per the permit;
• Failure to file complete quarterly reports on time;
• Failure to follow proper procedures for testing wood mulch product as required by the permit;
• Failure to prevent acceptance of prohibited waste;
• Failure to maintain proper records of testing;
• Failure to maintain proper records of personnel training, major equipment maintenance, and fire department inspections; and
• Failure to obtain approval of recycling waste other than C&D waste.

DNREC, according to the order from Sec. O’Mara, “finds that the suspension of the Permit is supported as the proper remedy for (Mike Davidson Enterprises, LLC)’s continuing and flagrant non-compliance with the permit and Delaware’s Regulations Governing Solid Waste.” The order also noted that “(i)n sum, the nature and extent of the violations show that Mike Davidson Enterprises, LLC has operated the facility since the very beginning of its regulated history with a wholesale disregard for DNREC’s regulations and the company’s permit.”

DNREC has given Mike Davidson Enterprises, LLC three months “as a reasonable time frame…to make the necessary changes to the facility in order to have the Solid & Hazardous Waste Management Section lift the suspension upon full compliance.” DNREC retains regulatory authority, including amending the permit, seeking monetary penalties of up to $10,000 for each day MDE does not comply with the permit or Delaware’s Regulations Governing Solid Waste, pursuing designation of the facility as a “chronic violator” and granting an extension in the three-month compliance schedule for showing good cause.

The Secretary’s Order suspending MDE’s permit can be found at http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/Info/Pages/SecOrders_Enforcement.aspx   

Contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 43, No. 176

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