A metals recycling firm is facing charges from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency for contaminating San Francisco Bay with toxic substances like lead, mercury, copper, and zinc, among other pollutants.
Sims Metal Management, in Redwood City, was issued a notice of violation by the EPA. As stipulated in the Clean Water Act, the firm could see itself being dinged with fines of up to $37,500 a day until the problem in solved.
Sims Metal Management disposes of around 300,000 automobiles per year, which translates into quite a bit of metal waste. the cars are dismantled and shredded and packed onto ships to transport the waste to Asian countries, where the materials are used to fabricate new products.
During March 2011 inspections, EPA agents detected elevated amounts of harmful contaminants in soil and sediment samples taken where the Sims facility meets Redwood Creek, a body of water which eventually empties into San Francisco Bay. As an example of the extent of the contamination, mercury was detected at levels 110 times federal safe levels, lead was present at five times greater concentration, and copper appeared at 86 times federal safe levels. Most alarmingly, polychlorinated biphenyls (or PCBs), which are common in older cars, were found in amounts that were a whopping 10,000 times over the government safe limit.
Needles to say, the level of soil and sediment contamination so close to a body of water poses a significant risk to many animals, as contaminated fish will be eaten by other animals, like birds and seals, which will spread the problem.
A spokesman for Sims Metal Management has stated that the company is already working with the EPA to bring the property into compliance, however, as recently as 2007, the company tangled with the EPA over a fire at the same facility, which led to a $20,000 fine for the company.
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