EPA takes 14 actions against Nevada facilities

Violations at various Nevada facilities resulted in 14 enforcement actions by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2008. According to the agency’s annual report, 7.9 million pounds of pollution were reduced, 49.6 million cubic yards of contaminated soil was cleaned up, and more than 16 million pounds of hazardous waste was reduced, treated or properly disposed of. The companies in violation have to invest an estimated $40.6 million for pollution control and clean-up to comply with EPA regulations.

A sampling of the businesses receiving the actions include Electronic Evolution Technologies in Reno, which paid an $80,000 penalty for failing to report the amount of lead it processed from 2002-2005. Another was PTP, Inc., a Nevada-based developer fined $43,000 for violating its underground control permit at the Pineview Estates subdivision in Gardnerville, which goes against the Safe Drinking Water Act. PTP is now working with the EPA toward compliance. There was also Republic Services of Southern Nevada, which operates the 440-acre Sunrise Mountain Landfill outside Las Vegas. The landfill cover failed during storms in Sept. 1998, sending waste into the Las Vegas Wash, which empties into Lake Mead, the main source of drinking water for southern Nevada. The company has agreed to remedy the site, an undertaking estimated to cost $36 million. The landfill is unlined and contains more than 49 million yards of waste.