On November 12, 2020, EPA Region 5 and Spectrum Health Hospitals (Spectrum), entered into a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Section 3008(a) Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) resolving violations relating to failure to provide notification of hazardous waste activity and failure to file a biennial report. The CAFO requires Spectrum to pay a civil penalty of $11,471 and rectify the alleged violations within 30 days. Spectrum owns operates hospitals, urgent care clinics, and labs throughout Michigan.
On August 20, 2020, EPA informed Spectrum of alleged potential violations of RCRA. Specifically, EPA informed Spectrum, in a letter dated August 19, 2020, that based on a review of data, it appeared that Spectrum had identified itself as a small quantity generator of hazardous waste. During the 2019 calendar year, Spectrum generated hazardous waste in quantities that qualified Spectrum for large quantity generator status. Thus, EPA identified the following potential violations: failure to submit sufficient subsequent notification of the change in the type of RCRA hazardous waste activity in violation of Section 3010(a) of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. ? 6930(a) (EPA Form 8700-12); and failure to a file biennial report in violation of Mich. Admin. Code r. 299.9308(1). EPA offered and Spectrum agreed to resolve the violations through a streamlined CAFO settlement process.
EPA Region 5 identified the violations through its RCRA Data Mining Initiative, which uses Agency data so