Parker Live News from the Parker Strip since 2009.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Arizona Attorney General’s Office announced today that Dome Rock Industries, Inc., of Quartzsite has agreed to a $25,000 settlement for numerous water quality and solid waste violations at its La Paz County facility.
ADEQ’s water quality compliance section inspected the facility in October 2008 and recorded a number of violations to aquifer protection permit regulations, including using contaminated water to suppress dust, storing soil contaminated with petroleum and other oily waste materials on an unlined concrete pad constructed of masonry blocks and operating an off-loading pad that discharged to the ground surface.
ADEQ’s solid waste inspection and compliance unit inspected the facility in September 2005 and April 2008 and documented numerous solid waste and used oil violations including the disposal of used oil on land, allowing the release of used oil to the environment by utilizing damaged or failing containers and tanks, failure to utilize secondary containment systems, and failure to take appropriate actions in response to a release of used oil to the land.
Dome Rock paid a $100,000 penalty in the aftermath of a September 2003 settlement for a series of hazardous waste violations that occurred in 2000. Dome Rock accepted loads of hazardous waste without a permit twice and then shipped the hazardous waste to another unpermitted facility where the waste was illegally burned. On each occasion, Dome Rock also failed to comply with various reporting and tracking requirements. On another occasion, the company unlawfully stored hazardous waste at its facility. Dome Rock Industries closed its plant in March 2009, shortly after the beginning of ADEQ’s investigation following the October 2008 inspection.
Although Dome Rock Industries closed its plant in March 2009, the settlement requires the company to seek clean closure of the site, which entails soil and, if necessary, groundwater sampling, to assess the impacts of its operations on the environment. The sampling results will dictate whether subsequent actions will be performed by the company to comply with state laws.
“This lack of management of its contaminated oil products put Arizona’s environment and the community at risk,” ADEQ Director Henry Darwin said. “This company was bringing a large amount of material from California. We’re happy that this site is no longer a dumping ground for out-of-state interests.”
“Waste oil processors need to rigorously comply with state standards to protect the health of our citizens and our environment,” Attorney General Tom Horne said.
The consent judgment is subject to court approval.
THIS totally explains Quartzsite politics and those Three Headed Toads I saw at Quartzsite Town Council Meetings!
Question: Dome Rock Industries is / is not the same entity as the trash collecting company from Blythe — Palo Verde Valley … ? — that runs the Quartzsite Sorting Facility on Dome Rock Road?
Good question, I’ll find out for you. I think it is…
Also, is Richard Oldham still considering going into the CashForTrash biz?
Some people around here say he’s already in the biz, being a used car sales lot and all. But I don’t know. What do you mean, make a deal with Dan Field and company for the landfill, or its operations?
Anything is possible in this Kounty
Will still check on your other question when I get a few minutes to drive out to that plant
Cate,
I was out by Palo Verde’s plant today and talked with the mgr. of the Dome Rock RV Park, which is across the street from the old Dome Rock Industries location. It’s not the same as far as I can tell. What is interesting is Palo Verde, the garbage outfit, was just sold and the new owner also bought the Dome Rock campground, their storage facility, and the storage lot to the South of it. It appears the garbage outfit is going to expand. Some company out of Sacramento CA apparently bought Palo Verde. I wonder how the Board of Stupidvisors is going to screw this one up!