Cosmoflex, Inc., to Pay Civil Penalty for Community Right-to-Know Violations at Hannibal, MO Manufacturing Plant

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7

901 N. Fifth St., Kansas City, KS 66101

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

Cosmoflex, Inc., to Pay $80,000 Civil Penalty for Community Right-to-Know Violations at Hannibal, Mo., Manufacturing Plant 

Contact Information: Chris Whitley, 913-551-7394, whitley.christopher@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., April 3, 2012) - Cosmoflex, Inc., a manufacturer of rubber and plastic hoses and belts, has agreed to pay an $80,000 civil penalty to the United States to settle a series of violations of environmental regulations related to the public reporting of toxic chemicals at its manufacturing facility in Hannibal, Mo.

According to an administrative consent agreement filed by EPA Region 7 in Kansas City, Kan., the Agency conducted an inspection of Cosmoflex’s facility at 4145 Industrial Drive in Hannibal in February 2011. Among its findings, the inspection noted that the company had failed to make timely reports to EPA and the State of Missouri on certain quantities of toxic chemicals that were manufactured, processed or otherwise used at the facility during 2007, 2008 and 2009.

More specifically, the inspection found that the facility:

• Failed to conduct Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reporting for antimony, barium and zinc compounds for calendar years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
• Was late in filing inventory reports for dioctylphthalate and lead compounds for calendar years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
• Failed to maintain documentation for lead compounds during calendar years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
• Had a data quality error in its reporting of lead compounds for calendar year 2007.

Cosmoflex uses more than one million pounds of dioctylphthalate, a carcinogen, in its plastic manufacturing operations each year. Several thousand pounds of lead-containing PVC is also used at the facility as a raw material. Antimony, barium, zinc compounds, dioctylphthalate and lead compounds are toxic chemicals that can have negative impacts on human health and the environment. General information about potential health concerns and environmental effects associated with releases of and exposures to toxic chemicals is available at www.atsdr.cdc.gov/substances/index.asp.

Submission of the annual toxic chemical reports is a requirement of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Under EPCRA regulations, companies of certain size are required to submit annual reports to EPA and state authorities listing the amounts of regulated chemicals that their facilities release into the environment through routine activities or as a result of accidents. The reports provide an important source of information to emergency planners and responders, and residents of surrounding communities.

EPCRA was enacted by Congress in 1986 as an outgrowth of concern over the protection of the public from chemical emergencies and dangers. After the catastrophic accidental release of methyl isocyanate at Union Carbide’s Bhopal, India, facility in December 1984, and a later toxic release from a West Virginia chemical plant, it was evident that national public disclosure of toxic release inventory information was needed.

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