U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 recently announced a settlement with United Parcel Service, Inc., and TForce Freight, Inc., (together, ?Respondents?), alleging hazardous waste violations. The settlement requires Respondents to correct alleged violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (?RCRA?) at all facilities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas, and includes a civil penalty of $3.8 million. This settlement was achieved in less than one year in part because Respondents cooperated with EPA and agreed to create enhanced programs to address non-compliance. Respondents have 24 months to come into compliance across 183 locations in Region 6, and will work closely with EPA during this period.
Respondents? facilities generate hazardous waste when a package is damaged, as well as during day-to-day operations such as maintenance. EPA became aware of Respondents? non-compliance through data mining, the practice of analyzing large databases in order to generate new information. This process identified many UPS facilities that were generating and managing hazardous waste in all three generator statuses?Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators, Small Quantity Generators, and Large Quantity Generators?without providing all the required information about these facilities to EPA. Using the e-manifest system (EPA?s national system for electronically tracking hazardous waste shipments), EPA was able to cross-check Respondents?