Bedford School Bus Facility Among Those Ordered into EPA Compliance

The Goffstown Truck Center, Inc., which provides school bus services to Bedford, has agreed to pay a $25,000 penalty to resolve Clean Water Act violations for having failed to fully implement Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure plans (SPCC) at two of its facilities located in Auburn and Weare, N.H.

Though the Bedford facility wasn't named in the violations, the order also charges the Goffstown Truck Center, Inc. and its affiliated companies (Ocean State Transit, LLC, Student Transportation of Vermont, Inc., and STA of Connecticut) enter into a compliance order with EPA to ensure that all its New England facilities subject to the SPCC regulations are in full compliance with the requirements of those regulations by Dec. 31. In addition to Bedford, the list of facilities includes locations inAuburn, Bedford, Epsom, Peterborough and Weare; the Vermont communities of Middlebury and Milton; Exeter, Rhode Island; and the Connecticut communities of Danbury, Griswold, Guilford, Higganum, Ledyard, Naugatuck and Stamford.

An EPA inspector documented violations of the Oil Pollution Prevention regulations (also known as SPCC regulations) at the Goffstown Truck Center, Inc.’s facilities in Auburn and Weare N.H. during inspections in Nov. 2010 and March 2011.

According to the EPA, thousands of gallons of oil are spilled from oil storage facilities, polluting New England waters every year.

“Because oil spills can do significant damage to the environment, it’s very important that facilities handling and storing oil do everything possible to minimize the risk of oil spills,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “It’s much easier and less expensive to prevent pollution before it occurs.”

Any facility with more than 1,320 gallons of above-ground oil storage capacity and meeting certain other criteria must have spill prevention and response plans in place. 

More information on oil spill prevention requirements (http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/spcc/index.htm)