The EPA said that Clean Harbors’ facility had repeatedly violated environmental laws from 2021 to 2023.
An aerial view of Clean Harbors’ Kimball TSDF shows the areas where hazardous waste containers are offloaded or loaded onto trucks in Area 57 A/B/C. On multiple occasions, regulators found hazardous waste in the area that exceeded the time limit by which the waste should have been moved between 2021 and 2023. (2022). “EPA Final inspection report FY 22 NE Clean Harbors”
By Jacob Wallace, Waste Dive Editor
Clean Harbors received a $270,412 fine for hazardous waste management violations at its Kimball, Nebraska, incineration plant where it’s currently completing an expansion, the U.S. EPA announced in a release Wednesday.
From 2021 to 2023, regulators flagged a series of issues to Clean Harbors, some of which related to a backlog of hazardous material that the company has acknowledged in earnings calls. Wednesday’s announcement follows a “lengthy history” of violations of environmental laws like the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the EPA said. The agency noted that Clean Harbors has since corrected the violations.
“Mismanagement of hazardous waste leads to human exposure and environmental contamination,” David Cozad, director of EPA Region 7’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division, said in a statement. “This penalty action involving one of the largest hazardous waste disposal facilities in the country demonstrates EPA’s commitment to protecting communities and leveling the playing field for companies that comply with the law.”
The operating permit for the Kimball, Nebraska, hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facility, or TSDF, was renewed for five years on Sept. 15, 2022. Clean Harbors has operated the plant since it acquired the property from Amoco in 1995, according to a company factsheet.
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