Perma-Fix is in the midst of negotiating a proposed $215,500 fine with the U.S. Environmental Protection Service for violations discovered during a full site inspection years ago. In its fourth quarter and end-of-year 2012 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Perma-Fix wrote that on March 7, 2013, Perma-Fix Northwest Richland, Inc., a subsidiary of Perma-Fix, “received a Notice of Intent to File Administrative Complaint from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleging PFNWR had improperly stored certain mixed waste.”
Perma-Fix and EPA have 120 days from the notice to reach a settlement, or EPA said it would sue for up to $37,500 per day, per violation. “We had an inspection years ago and they’re finally getting around to trying to close it out,” Lou Centofanti, Chairman and CEO of Perma-Fix, said yesterday. “The inspection was two or three years ago. They did a big inspection of the whole complex out there. It was on the RCRA site, and it was the federal EPA that did the inspection. [The violation] was … for three drums that were not properly labeled. We’re in the process of negotiating with the state as to what we should do and how we should do it.” Centofanti said that negotiations with the EPA have already begun, and he expects the fine to be resolved in the near future.