The Environmental Protection Agency is charged with protecting our natural environment as well as the health of those who enjoy its resources. By enacting legislation that regulates the use of chemicals the EPA is able to protect our natural resources as well as the health and safety of our citizens. And in that spirit, the EPA reported late last month that the agency had settled claims with Kemira Chemicals and Kemira Water Solutions, two subsidiaries of a global chemicals company whose North American headquarters are based in Atlanta.
The EPA claimed the company’s subsidiaries violated federal pesticide and chemical laws and settled the claims with the company for a reported $800,000. The Kemira Group, a Finland company, has operations in Atlanta, Columbus, Marietta and Savannah. The company declined requests to comment on the EPA fines. The EPA said the company has agreed to correct the violations alleged in their complaint and agreed to pay civil penalties of just over $800,000 for those violations between the two subsidiaries.
The company was accused of distributing and selling pesticides that were unregistered and branded incorrectly as well as not reporting to the agency production of certain pesticides. The exact location where the violations allegedly occurred was not disclosed in the EPA’s release. The EPA said the company was facing 27 violations of regulations involving federal toxic substance controls. The violations related to the company failing to report specific facility locations that produced certain chemicals and the production volumes of those chemical substances.
In Georgia, the company’s operations include research and development operations and customer service in Atlanta and the manufacture of chemicals at the other Georgia locations previously mentioned. Kemira Group also has other manufacturing operations in other locations around the United States. Compliance with environmental laws and regulations can be extremely complex and require a dedicated team of legal professionals to investigate any allegations of noncompliance and to enforce a property owner’s right to protect his or her land.
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Kemira to pay $800,000 in EPA fines,” Christopher Seward, Jan. 24, 2013
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