EPA Fines United Airlines $68,695

DENVER (AP) â€” Inspectors from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have fined United Airlines $68,695 for hazardous waste violations at Denver International Airport. <br><br>The EPA check was one

Monday, December 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DENVER (AP) â€” Inspectors from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have fined United Airlines $68,695 for hazardous waste violations at Denver International Airport.

The EPA check was one of several that focused on companies that had not been inspected by state government for at least five years. Four other companies have been fined by the EPA as part of the recent crackdown.

Federal inspectors last year found two drums overflowing with used oil, plus evidence of another small oil spill, while checking United's airport facilities last year. United also failed to complete its own required toxic inspections, and was storing hazardous waste without a required permit, EPA inspectors said.

''(United) had a little bit of bad housekeeping, and some shoddy record-keeping and some inadequate personnel training,'' said EPA inspector Randy Lamdin.

United spokeswoman Chris Nardella said, ``We responded immediately and fixed the problems immediately.''

The original EPA inspection detailed 13 violations of federal hazardous-waste handling rules. Most violations involved the improper labeling and handling of hazardous waste.

In September, United signed an EPA settlement that claimed six violations from the December 1999 inspection, all for paperwork or management failures. In the $68,695 settlement, United said it ``neither admits nor denies the specific factual allegations contained herein.''

Hazardous waste inspections usually are done by state regulators. The EPA last year started conducting its own spot-checks of Colorado companies because of worries that state government had become too lax in enforcing toxic-waste laws, the first time the EPA has done so in 15 years.

Besides United, the other EPA-fined firms are a John Elway AutoNation USA repair shop in north Denver, which paid $1,000 and provided $5,000 of employee training after inspectors found an improperly stored 55-gallon drum of solvents; Ranch Manufacturing of Lamar, which was fined $9,000 and required to offer $4,000 of training after EPA found 10 drums of paint-related wastes stored improperly; and FMH Material Handling of Denver's Globeville neighborhood, which was fined $1,000 after inspectors found an improperly stored 5-gallon container of paint-related waste.

Federal officials announced earlier this year that the state had beefed up its hazardous waste program enough to handle the toxic inspections itself.