Romic Environmental Technologies Corp. A TOXIC WASTE Handler In Palo Alto Has Been EXPELLED From California!!! I CAN'T Believe They Were In Business For 50 YEARS Pulling This Crap! Who Were They Paying Off For Silence?!

The Oakland Tribune

Firm linked to E. Palo Alto spill expelled from state

written by By Jessica Bernstein-Wax and Will Oremus

Friday February 19, 2010 at 07:26am

EAST PALO ALTO — A toxic-waste handler that operated a controversial facility for nearly 50 years can never do business in California again and must pay $350,000 in penalties, according to a settlement agreement filed this week.

In 2007, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control ordered Romic Environmental Technologies Corp.'s Bay Road plant in East Palo Alto to close after committing a series of violations, including a 2,000-gallon hazardous waste spill in June 2006 that resulted in a toxic cloud and two cases in which employees suffered severe burns. Two years earlier, in 2005, the same state department fined Romic $849,500 for violations.

The toxic substances department finished its investigation of Romic in September 2008, and the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office then began negotiating with the company to reach a settlement, deputy district attorney Elizabeth Hill said.

After reaching a settlement, Hill's office officially filed its complaint Tuesday in San Mateo County Superior Court along with the agreement.

Under the agreement, Romic admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay $275,000 in civil penalties to the county. It must also give almost $50,000 to the Department of Toxic Substances Control to reimburse the investigation and other costs and nearly $13,000 to the San Mateo County health department, as well as $6,110 to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District and $6,000 to the East Palo Alto Police Department for emergency response costs.

"Defendant Romic Environmental Technologies Corporation and any of its successor corporations are hereby permanently enjoined and restrained from owning or operating any business or facility participating in the handling, storage or treatment of hazardous waste in the state of California," the document states.

The complaint accused Romic of negligent disposal, treatment and storage of hazardous waste, failure to operate facilities in a way that minimizes the threat to human health and the environment, and a lack of "precautions to prevent reactions which generated extreme heat or pressure, fire or explosion or violent reactions," among many other charges.

"Part of the purpose of a civil penalty isn't just to punish the offender but also as a deterrent to future offenders," Hill said. "The resolution fairly addresses the conduct that they engaged in, and I think that the settlement does serve as a deterrent to potential violators."

Romic has razed all its buildings on the 17.2-acre site but still owns the land, said Bob Hoffman, an attorney with Paul Hastings in San Francisco, which represents the company. Its hazardous waste accounts were sold to Massachusetts-based Clean Harbors Inc., and Romic today exists only to fulfill its obligations to clean up the site, he said.

A second Romic site in Chandler, Ariz., ceased operations in December 2007.

The East Palo Alto cleanup's second phase, which focuses on soil and ground water, continues under supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Romic is paying for the cleanup out of an account federal regulators required it to set aside.

The $350,000 penalty will not affect the company's ability to finish the cleanup, Hoffman said.

"The company views the settlement as basically closing the books on its historic operations there and on the enforcement action the state initiated in 2007," he added.