MALONE, N.Y. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fined Adirondack Energy Products Inc., the operator of nine Mountain Mart gas stations in northern New York.
The stations are in Plattsburgh, Massena, Malone, Moira and Canton, N.Y.
EPA inspections of the companies' tanks revealed that they had failed to comply with requirements of the federal Resource Conservation & Recovery Act, the agency said.
In addition to paying penalties, the agreement requires all facilities owned by Adirondack Energy Products and its affiliated companies to come into full compliance with the regulations. Adirondack Energy Products Inc. and its affiliated companies will remove conventional leak detection devices from the stations and replace them with more technologically advanced leak detection equipment. This equipment will collect all leak detection data and then electronically transmit it to handheld mobile devices carried by the companies' environment, health and safety officer and systems and equipment manager.
Under the agreement, the companies will also hire a third-party contractor to conduct an environmental compliance audit at each of the stations and hire a contractor to conduct a seminar to educate other owners and operators of underground storage tanks about federal regulations.
Adirondack Energy Products and its affiliates must pay a $46,000 fine and install approximately $112,000 in new equipment, said an Associated Press report.
According to a complaint filed in 2011 in U.S. District Court, the EPA inspected Adirondack Energy Products locations in Malone and Plattsburgh on July 14, 2009, added a report by The Watertown Daily Times. One Malone store did not maintain adequate equipment-testing records and the Plattsburgh store, which is located above a primary aquifer on Monroe Way, did not have leak sensors on fuel pipes, the complaint said.
A second Malone store was checked twice, according to the complaint. An exam revealed that the store was not conducting any leak-detection testing; a 2009 visit showed that the first tests were not conducted until July 19, 2008, the report said.
In August 2010, the EPA inspected a Mountain Mart station in Massena and noted that a kerosene release sensor had been in "fuel alarm" state for almost three months and no report had been made to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, as required by law, according to the complaint. The document said that as of the day it was prepared, the company still had not reported the kerosene release to the DEC. Also, during an Oct. 10, 2008, inspection of the Massena store, EPA officials noted there were no records from underground fuel-release detectors, as required by law.
That same day in 2008, federal agents inspected the Canton Mountain Mart and discovered a lack of overfill-prevention equipment and inadequate records of release-detection monitoring, said the report.
In all the instances of inadequate record-keeping, the complaint states that Adirondack Energy officials stated they were not aware of the regulations.
In a separate action, the EPA said that it reached an agreement earlier this year with Warren, Pa.-based United Refining Co. to settle alleged violations involving 17 USTs at six stations in western New York. Under the terms of the agreement, United Refining will pay a fine of $24,000 and has agreed to operate its tanks in full compliance with the law.
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