Trident to pay $112,000 for ammonia violation

This just in from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Seattle:

Trident Seafoods pays over $112,000 for failing to properly report hazardous chemicals

Company agrees to spend over $51,000 in emergency response equipment for responders in Kodiak and Akutan, Alaska.

SEATTLE, Wash., April 30, 2009 – Trident Seafoods Corporation (Trident) has settled with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and agreed to pay a $61,354 penalty for violating the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) by failing to properly report the storage of ammonia at four facilities.

Specifically, Trident failed to file Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Forms with local emergency response entities in Alaska and Washington.

In addition to paying the penalty, Trident agreed to perform a Supplemental Environmental Project, providing over $23,000 in emergency response equipment to first responders in Kodiak, Alaska and over $28,000 in response equipment to responders in Akutan, Alaska.

"People’s safety and preventing chemical accidents are a top priority for EPA,” said Edward Kowalski, Director of EPA’s Office of Compliance & Enforcement in Seattle. "We’re committed to reducing the likelihood and severity of accidental chemical releases by enforcing the law, protecting people and the environment and creating a level playing field for industry.”

Today’s settlement addresses violations related to Trident facilities in the Alaskan towns of Kodiak, Akutan and Petersburg, as well as a Trident facility in Seattle, Washington, all which store ammonia in amounts above the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act reportable quantities. The four Trident facilities process seafood.