TIMET Fined Record $13.75M for PCB Contamination

Titanium Metals Corporation (TIMET), a leading producer of titanium parts for jet engines, has agreed to pay a record $13.75 million civil penalty and perform an extensive investigation and cleanup of potential contamination stemming from the unauthorized manufacture and disposal of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) at its manufacturing facility in Henderson, Nevada, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

The penalty, the largest ever imposed for violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) at a single facility, is part of a settlement requiring TIMET to pay an additional $250,000 for violations related to illegal disposal of hazardous process wastewater, in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Under the settlement, EPA expects that the settlement will result in the removal of approximately 84,000 pounds of PCB-contaminated waste from the environment each year, and will prevent the improper disposal of 56 million pounds of hazardous waste each year.

“This settlement holds TIMET fully accountable for the period of its unauthorized manufacture and handling of harmful PCBs at the Henderson facility,” said Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “It will also result in substantial environmental cleanup and protection for the benefit of residents of the area, now and in the future.”

TIMET will also be required to electronically submit monitoring data biannually to EPA for three years showing that it is appropriately managing any PCBs it generates. The company has already spent approximately $6 million on investigation, site cleanup and compliance measures to address the potential contamination, and estimates that it will spend at least $1 million to complete the work required by the settlement.

The company has been working with EPA since 2007 to bring the facility into compliance, and has taken steps to reduce significantly the amount of PCBs it generates, manage appropriately the PCBs it does generate, and has corrected the other regulatory violations cited in the complaint.

TIMET is a leading manufacturer of titanium parts for jet engines, and processes titanium from rutile ore at its 108-acre manufacturing facility at the Black Mountain Industrial (BMI) Complex in Henderson. The company has agreed to allow the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) to make public TIMET’s EPA-approved work plans and completed work reports through a dedicated website.

Mandatory Facts:

• Defendant/respondent: Titanium Metals Corporation
• Criminal charges: Violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
• City and state: Henderson, Nevada
• Exact date: Not specified, but EPA inspections conducted in 2005, 2006, and 2008 revealed unauthorized manufacture and disposal of PCBs
• Sentence or outcome: TIMET agreed to pay a record $13.75 million civil penalty and perform an extensive investigation and cleanup of potential contamination
• Dollar amounts: $13.75 million civil penalty, $250,000 for RCRA violations, and at least $1 million to complete the work required by the settlement

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