Cruise Line Faces Steep Penalty for RCRA Violations

The EPA announced Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD will pay a civil penalty amounting to $473,685 for failing to notify EPA of alleged waste handling and management activities.

 

“Waste management is an important aspect of environmental protection. Improper waste management practices can lead to environmental and community challenges for decades,” said Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “This settlement reinforces our commitment to ensure companies are adhering to crucial RCRA regulations that are designed to protect our natural resources and public health from the dangers of hazardous waste.”

 

EPA conducted an inspection on December 6, 2022, at the Port of Galveston, Texas and found Pier 10 was being used to allegedly offload waste from eight different Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD (RCL) vessels into the United States. After reviewing additional reports and correspondence provided by RCL, who cooperated throughout the settlement process, EPA determined that RCL offloaded solid and hazardous waste materials from July 2019 to July 2024, into the U.S. EPA alleged that RCL failed to revise its Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) 3010 notifications, failed to file accurate biennial reports, failed to keep adequate records of hazardous waste determinations, failed to comply with the land disposal restrictions for the incinerator ash, and failed to comply with the obligations of a large quantity generator.

 

Under this settlement, RCL must maintain proper documentation of wastes it offloads from its vessels to final disposal /disposition. RCL must manifest accurately the amount of hazardous waste it offloads into U.S. ports and ensure the segregation of waste aligns with RCRA regulations. Additionally, RCL will update its Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) and submit to EPA Region 6 for review. Further, this settlement includes stipulated penalties, which safeguards RCL’s timely compliance with the CAFO. RCL is to implement the different waste handling and management programs successfully over the next 180-day period and will ensure that the alleged violations will not recur as a pattern of noncompliance.

 

Federal safety inspectors found a Macon tire manufacturing facility with a history of safety and health violations could have prevented the fatal injuries sustained by a 57-year-old maintenance worker in April 2024.

 

OSHA investigated the fatal incident at Kumho Tire Georgia, Inc., which occurred on April 10, 2024, when a worker was fatally injured after the machine they were working on unexpectedly started.

 

OSHA cited Kumho Tire Georgia after an investigation found the company bypassed safety procedures meant to prevent machinery from accidentally starting during maintenance. The company relied on basic on/off controls and sensors instead of following proper safety measures. As a result, the company was cited for one repeat, 12 serious, and two other-than-serious violations. The company was also cited for repeatedly failing to train authorized employees to safely perform servicing and maintenance activities.

 

“Kumho Tire Georgia has repeatedly failed to protect its employees, and this time that negligence resulted in a preventable tragedy,” said OSHA Area Director Joshua Turner in Atlanta. “Every year, thousands of these incidents occur, causing serious and sometimes fatal injuries. There is no excuse for endangering the lives of the employees who keep their operations running.”

 

The agency found the employer’s facility lacked sufficient machine guarding, designed to protect workers from caught-in hazards. Investigators also found missing guardrails and uncovered holes, leaving workers exposed to fall hazards. Kumho Tire Georgia Inc. faces a total of $271,930 in penalties.

 

Kumho Tire Georgia has a substantial history of non-compliance with safety and health requirements. Since 2015, the facility has been inspected nine times, resulting in 52 violations.

 

Located in Macon, Kumho Tire Georgia is a Chinese and Korean-owned tire manufacturer that employs approximately 560 workers from both Korea and the U.S. The facility has been in operation in the U.S. since 2016.

 

The employer has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

 

 

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A federal administrative law judge has ruled that CSX Transportation, Inc., a subsidiary of one of the nation's largest transportation companies, must pay a total of $453,510 to two railroad workers who were wrongfully terminated for exercising their federally protected rights to report workplace safety concerns. The company must also reinstate the workers.

 

The decision by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges follows a whistleblower investigation by OSHA of CSX Transportation's actions in November 2017 after the workers reported a blue flag on the tracks at a Waycross, Georgia, railyard, signaling they could not move their train safely. In response, the company removed them from the assignment and later fired them. OSHA determined CSX's response violated federal protections for workers raising safety issues.

 

"The Federal Railroad Safety Act protects workers' rights to report safety concerns without fear of retaliation. When employers like CSX Transportation retaliate against workers for raising safety concerns, they create an environment of fear that can lead to dangerous and sometimes deadly situations," said OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer in Atlanta. "The workers did what they were supposed to – they saw that the tracks were deemed unsafe, they communicated the issue, and waited for further instructions. Despite following protocol, they were fired for the delay. This retaliatory behavior is unacceptable."

 

The sum cited in the judge's order includes $248,856 in back wages plus compound daily interest, $100,000 for emotional distress and $100,000 for punitive damages for the two workers. CSX Transportation must also pay one of the workers $4,654 for the health insurance premiums paid after their termination. 

 

CSX Transportation must also reinstate the workers to their previous positions and seniority had they not suffered the wrongful termination and pay their reasonable attorney's fees and litigation expenses.

 

The decision is the latest of several in which federal officials have found CSX Transportation violating federal whistleblower regulations and retaliating against workers who reported safety concerns. In July 2021, OSHA ordered the employer to pay $221,976 in back wages, interest and damages to a worker terminated similarly in New Orleans. In October 2020, OSHA ordered CSX to reinstate an employee and pay more than $95,000 in back wages and $75,000 in punitive damages after an employee in Rebecca, Georgia, reported an unsafe customer gate and an on-the-job injury. Similar whistleblower investigations at a locomotive shop in 2016 and at a dispatch office in 2010 in Selkirk, New York, led to reinstatements and payment of back wages and damages to employees.

 

"Employers who punish workers for speaking out against unsafe or unfair working conditions are breaking the law, and OSHA will hold them accountable," Petermeyer added.

 

CSX Transportation Inc. is a subsidiary of the Jacksonville-based CSX Corp., one of the nation's largest transportation service providers. Its direct and indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries include CSX Intermodal Terminals Inc., CSX Real Property Inc., CSX Technology Inc., Total Distribution Services Inc., and TRANSFLO Corp.

 

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act and more than 20 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various workplace safety and health, airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, motor vehicle safety, health insurance reform, nuclear, pipeline, public transportation agency, railroad, maritime, securities, tax, criminal antitrust, and anti-money laundering laws. For more information on whistleblower protections, visit OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Programs webpage.

 

 

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The EPA, the Justice Department and New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) recently announced a settlement with Hilcorp Energy Company resolving Clean Air Act and New Mexico state law violations at the company's oil and gas production operations in New Mexico. 

 

Under the settlement, Hilcorp agreed to pay a civil penalty of $9.4 million for violations resulting from Hilcorp’s failure to reduce emissions during well completion operations. The civil penalty will be split between the U.S. and the state of New Mexico. In addition, the company must employ an EPA-approved third-party auditor to ensure compliance with all applicable Clean Air Act and New Mexico Air Quality Control Act requirements.

 

Hilcorp is further directed to account for the excess volatile organic compound (VOC) and methane emissions released through improper well completions by replacing, on a faster timeline than federal regulations require, old process control equipment with equipment that does not emit air pollution. This mitigation project will occur on Tribal lands of the Jicarilla Apache Nation Reservation, in Rio Arriba County, and on Navajo Nation Off-Reservation Trust Land in San Juan and Sandoval counties; all of these areas have potential environmental justice concerns.

 

The work that Hilcorp will do under this agreement will result in the equivalent of over 113,000 tons of reduced carbon dioxide emissions over the next three years, similar to the number of reductions achieved by taking 24,000 cars off the road for one year. The settlement will also eliminate nearly 583 tons of VOC emissions annually.

 

This case is the first to address violations of the Clean Air Act New Source Performance Standards covering well completions following hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking.”

 

“Oil and gas production results in significant air pollution, including emissions of methane that are one of the leading sources of near-term climate change, which makes today’s settlement with Hilcorp Energy a huge win for the environment and the planet,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “EPA is requiring Hilcorp to pay a $9.4 million penalty and make substantial investments in Clean Air Act compliance, which will reduce climate damaging emissions and improve air quality for all New Mexico residents, including communities with environmental justice concerns.”

 

Federal Clean Air Act and New Mexico state air regulations require oil and gas producers to capture gas that flows back to the surface following fracking using equipment that can accommodate flowback and to implement a reduced emission completion control, commonly referred to as a green completion. Producers have several green completion options to choose from. If none are technically feasible, producers may route the captured gas to a pollution control device like a flare.

 

Based on EPA’s and NMED’s investigations, the U.S. and state allege that Hilcorp conducted at least 192 well completion operations in Rio Arriba and San Juan counties from Aug. 2, 2017, through Aug. 1, 2019.

 

At 145 of these well completions, Hilcorp captured none of the gas and instead released into the atmosphere all gas that flowed back following fracking. At the remainder of well completions, Hilcorp captured a portion of the gas and directed it to a flare but did not demonstrate that all green completion options were infeasible. Hilcorp’s actions resulted in thousands of tons of harmful methane and VOC emissions being released into the environment. Methane is a climate super pollutant and potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, and VOCs adversely affect human health in multiple ways, including being involved in the formation of ground-level ozone.

 

Hilcorp is one of the nation’s largest privately-owned oil and gas exploration and production companies, and a top producer of natural gas in Mexico from 2018-2021. New Mexico is one of the top 10 producing states for natural gas in the United States for 2018-2023.  In 2022, onshore oil and gas industry data reported to EPA showed that Hilcorp’s San Juan Basin operation emitted the most methane in the U.S. among all oil and gas operations.

 

The settlement is part of the EPA’s Mitigating Climate Change National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative, which focuses, in part, on reducing methane emissions from oil and gas and landfill sources. Like all the EPA’s national enforcement initiatives, the Mitigating Climate Change initiative prioritizes communities already overburdened by pollution and other potential environmental justice concerns.

 

More information on the settlement agreement is available on the agency’s Hilcorp Energy Company Settlement web page.

 

The consent decree was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico and is subject to a 30-day comment period, which can be found on the Justice Department’s website.

 

 

OSHA recently released expanded guidance for animal slaughtering and processing industry inspections, superseding previous guidance that applied only to poultry establishments.

 

The goal of the updated Inspection Guidance for Animal Slaughtering and Processing Establishments is to significantly reduce injuries and illnesses that result from occupational hazards through a combination of enforcement, compliance assistance and outreach. Under the guidance, OSHA inspections in these establishments will focus on hazards associated with sanitation and cleanup operations, ergonomics, hazardous energy and machine guarding, among others.

 

According to employer-reported data, meat and poultry workers suffer serious injuries at double the rate of other workers. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate occupational illness cases reported in the animal slaughtering and processing industry were six times higher than the average for all industries in 2022. At the same time, the rate of carpal tunnel syndrome in this industry was more than seven times the national average. These workers also face other serious hazards, such as exposure to high noise levels, dangerous equipment and machinery, slippery floors, hazardous chemicals and biological hazards associated with handling animals.

 

Many workers in the meat and poultry industry have limited English proficiency, and the Labor Department has found an increased number of children working in the industry, often on maintenance and cleaning shifts. All workers, regardless of their socioeconomic background or immigration status, have the right to safe and healthy workplaces. This new guidance better protects all workers by ensuring inspections are done during second and third shifts and include contractors and temporary workers, and that training is provided in languages workers understand.

 

Learn more about OSHA's efforts to keep workers in the Animal Slaughtering and Processing industry safe by visiting its safety and health topics pages on meatpacking and poultry processing. Find more insights into workplace injuries in the animal processing industry at OSHA's new Severe Injury Report dashboard.

 

 

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