OSU pays $275,000 to settle hazardous waste violations
Oregon State University has agreed to pay $275,000 in penalties for multiple violations of federal hazardous waste identification rules.
In 2013, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspectors found about 2,000 containers of hazardous wastes, in at least six OSU campus laboratories and other buildings that were not properly identified, managed or safely stored, in violation of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Multiple types of hazardous wastes were found, including solvents and other flammable liquids, acids and other caustic, toxic and reactive chemicals, and used oil. In addition, OSU did not have a permit required by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to manage and store the hazardous wastes.
“Without knowing what its hazardous wastes were from the very beginning, it was impossible for Oregon State University to ensure its chemicals were handled safely, which could have put students, faculty, and first responders at significant risk,” Ed Kowalski, director of EPA’s Pacific Northwest Office of Compliance and Enforcement, said in a news release.
The OSU campus has more than 25,000 students and 4,700 full time employees, and the potential for harm was substantial if a release, fire, or explosion had occurred near a classroom or other building where hazardous wastes were being generated, EPA said in its release. Several of the locations where mismanaged waste was accumulated were in close proximity to students and faculty.
The settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also requires OSU to provide comprehensive training to employees to properly identify hazardous waste generated at its Corvallis campus.
OSU spokesman Steve Clark said that already has taken place.
“We instituted expansive training and labeling of these materials immediately upon notice by the EPA of problems that they identified,” Clark said. “We did not wait to act.”
Clark also disputed that anyone was in danger. Labeling wasn’t done in laboratories, as EPA alleged, he said. But it was done in a central facility.
And, some of those 2,000 containers were vials or small bottles. In total, they represented about 1 percent of total waste handled by the university, he said.
“This is a consent agreement. It is not an admission of liability or guilt,” Clark said. “Safety is our first priority as a university.”
tloew@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/Tracy_Loew
State fines WOU for hazardous waste violations