California company with Axis, Alabama, facility sentenced to probation, fined: USDOJ
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — AMVAC Chemical Corp. violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, according to the United States Department of Justice.
According to a news release from the USDOJ, the violation resulted in the California-based company being sentenced to three years probation and fined $400,000.
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Court documents show AMVAC manufactures and distributes fungicides, defoliants, insecticides, herbicides, molluscicides, fumigants and pesticide products.
AMVAC owns and operates a facility in Axis, Alabama. The company makes pesticides to sell nationwide.
AMVAC purchased a Thimet pesticide product line from another company in 2006. Its active ingredient was Phorate. The Environmental Protection Agency identified Phorate as an acute hazardous waste in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
The Thimet was sold and shipped in reusable containers that AMVAC shipped back to its Axis facility.
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A transporter for AMVAC was directed to complete an import declaration form called, “Notice of Arrival Pesticides and Devices,” for these containers.
AMVAC said the Thimet was “not registered” with the EPA.
Those containers arrived at the Port of Savannah in Georgia and were picked up by an AMVAC transporter to move them to a warehouse in Saraland, Alabama.
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However, AMVAC did not notify the transporter that the containers had hazardous waste, and the company did not create a hazardous waste manifest for the transportation of the Thimet, which violates the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
“Together with our partners, we will continue to enforce federal law to protect the citizens and the environment of the Southern District of Alabama,” United States Attorney Sean P. Costello said.
The EPA investigated the case.
“Improperly handling toxic pesticides not only violates environmental regulations, but places workers and surrounding communities at risk of an accidental release and exposure,” Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s criminal enforcement program in Alabama Leslie Carroll said. “Today’s sentencing of AMVAC Chemical Corporation reminds those who handle hazardous waste that EPA and its partners will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Anderson and Senior Counsel Kris Dighe with the Environmental Crime Section of the DOJ prosecuted the case.
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