 Company also to pay $110,000 for illegal discharges of fish waste March 02, 2004
The government's complaint against the company charges it with violating the terms of its Clean Water Act permits by discharging seafood sludge and other wastes which caused a film, sheen, emulsion, or scum on the surface of the water. The EPA also charged the company with violating Alaska's water quality standards for having a seafood waste pile larger than the one acre zone of deposit for which it was permitted. The agreement announced requires AGS to prevent the discharge of its waste into the waters of the Tongass Narrows by either barging its seafood processing waste to an EPA-approved, at-sea disposal site or using an EPA-approved, alternative disposal method. AGS must also prevent eruptions from piles of its waste on the floor of Tongass Narrows. These pile eruptions cause a re-suspension of seafood processing wastes in the water column and/or on the water surface. For years, residents of Ketchikan have complained of the stench from such eruptions. "We believe that this settlement is another positive step toward a new era of improved seafood waste disposal that will benefit the environment and industry," said Marcia Combes, Director of the EPA's Alaska Operations Office in Anchorage.
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