Stoughton-Based Oil Company to Pay up to $80K Fine for Hazardous Waste Violations

The following is a press release from the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley:

A Stoughton-based oil company will pay up to $80,000 to settle allegations of failing to use structurally-sound containers for transporting petroleum-soaked solids to the Allston rail yard that leaked hazardous waste onto the ground, and for failing to properly transfer the containers to a rail transporter for out of state disposal, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Wednesday. 

The complaint, filed with a consent judgment in Suffolk Superior Court last Friday, alleges that Cyn Oil Corporation transported petroleum-soaked solids in 20-yard long roll-off containers to the rail yard in Allston. Instead of properly transferring the containers to a rail transporter for out of state disposal, using the Hazardous Waste Manifest System, Cyn left the containers in the rail yard without passing on responsibility for the hazardous waste. While the corroded containers sat in the rail yard, loosely covered with a tarp, they leaked at least 35 gallons of hazardous waste oil onto the ground.

The complaint also alleges that Cyn did not take immediate action to address or to notify the Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) of the oil leaks. The site has since been cleaned up by Cyn, and the containers removed from the property for disposal.

“Transportation of hazardous materials must be done in containers that do not leak hazardous materials onto the road or elsewhere where they could threaten public health and safety,” said MassDEP Commissioner Kenneth Kimmell. “Hazardous waste laws also require thorough records showing any transfer of the manifest, so that every party responsible for the proper management of that waste at any given time is always identified.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Cyn will pay $80,000 in civil penalties to the Commonwealth, of which $30,000 will be waived if the company complies with all obligations of the consent judgment, including inspecting all of its containers to ensure their structural integrity.

The case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Betsy Harper of Attorney General Coakley’s Environmental Protection Division, as well as MassDEP Regional Attorney Colleen McConnell and Environmental Analysts Matthew Barber, John Keating, and Bill Sirull.