Lafarge North America Inc. and four of its U.S. subsidiaries have agreed to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations. The violations include unpermitted discharge of stormwater at 21 of its stone, gravel, sand, asphalt and ready-mix concrete facilities in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland and New York.
Lafarge North America supplies construction materials in the United States and Canada.
Cynthia Giles, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, says, “EPA is committed to protecting America’s waters from polluted stormwater runoff. Today’s settlement will improve stormwater management at facilities across the nation, preventing harmful pollutants from being swept into local waterways.”
As part of the agreement, Lafarge will implement a nationwide evaluation and compliance program at 189 of its similar facilities in the United States to ensure they meet Clean Water Act requirements. Lafarge also will pay a penalty of $740,000 and implement two supplemental environmental projects, in which the company will complete conservation easements to protect about 166 acres in Maryland and Colorado. Lafarge will also implement one state environmentally beneficial project valued at $10,000 to support environmental training for state inspectors.
The comprehensive evaluation will include a compliance review of each facility’s permit, an inventory of all discharges to U.S. waters, and identification of all best management practices in place. In addition, Lafarge will identify an environmental vice president who will be responsible for coordinating oversight of compliance with stormwater requirements; name at least two environmental directors to oversee stormwater compliance at each operation; and appoint an onsite operations manager at each facility.
The company will also develop and implement an extensive management, training, inspection, and reporting system to increase the oversight of its operations and compliance with stormwater requirements at all facilities that it owns or operates.
The complaint, filed in federal court with the settlement, alleges a pattern of violations since 2006 that were discovered after several federal inspections at the company’s facilities. The alleged violations included unpermitted discharges, violations of effluent limitations, inadequate management practices, inadequate or missing records and practices regarding stormwater compliance and monitoring, inadequate discharge monitoring and reporting, inadequate stormwater pollution prevention plans and inadequate stormwater training.
According to the EPA, since being notified of the violations by EPA, LaFarge has made significant improvements to its stormwater management systems.
More information is available at www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/cwa/lafargenorthamerica.html.