The ADEQ (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality) announced last Friday that PAS Technologies, Inc. of Phoenix will pay a $100,000 penalty as part of a consent judgment entered in Maricopa County Superior Court for hazardous waste violations at its Central Phoenix plating facility.
PAS Technologies was cited for a total of 15 violations, including the release of hexavalent chromium to the environment and illegally treating cyanide wastewater.
The case against PAS Technologies included 10 different violations of disposal of hazardous waste without a permit, failure to perform hazardous waste determination, and four violations in the employee training, handling, marking and storage of waste fluorescent lamps.
“Their unlawful management of hazardous waste put employees and the environment at risk, but we are encouraged by the changes made at PAS,” ADEQ Director Henry Darwin said.
The settlement with PAS Technologies brings to 12 the number of electroplating facilities in Arizona brought into compliance with hazardous waste rules under ADEQ’s “Plating Initiative.”
ADEQ launched the Plating Initiative in 2008 after facility inspections beginning in 2004 determined that many facilities were not in compliance with the Arizona Hazardous Waste Act, which regulates hazardous waste in the state.
The consent judgment is subject to court approval.