Re: Twin Cities AAP Settlement

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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[Comment on the MPCA press release submitted by Christine Ziebold <cziebold@ih.org>]

Business as usual, Minnesota nice ?

On 1/29/2002 the state of Minnesota quietly fined the Twin Cities Army
Ammunition Plant $1,000,000 for a Clean Water Act violation. This was
published in the obscure "DOD Environmental Quality Program Annual
Report to Congress FY 2002 Appendix J" on page 4. No other public
reference or media notice could be found. Two years later, in April 2004
lawyers agreed on a settlement.  At first  I heard it was for $400,000.
Now, on June 9, more than 2 months later,  to my surprise MPCA finally
comes out with a press release that the fine is only $150,000. Equal to
an 85% reduction, this is a slap on the wrist. AllianttechSystems (ATK)
the $2.2 billion clusterbomb, landmine, depleted uranium and space
weapon company profiteering at TCAAP is paying merely $15,000. The press
release as far as I can tell was not carried by ANY print or audio
media, media that will otherwise publish ATK's press releases.

There are 3 lessons: Dirty business works and doesn't hurt business,
because fines don't work

* If there is an environmental fine, the taxpayer pays via Army or
regulators to clean up.

* Fines and a history of fraud have never stopped ATK from getting new
contracts. Alliant Techsystems was already sued three times by the
government in the 1990s: It paid $12 million to settle environmental
claims (never for releasing depleted uranium into soil water and air,
nor has the state of Minnesota ever sought natural resource damages
based on damage of the aquifer by TCE !), $4.5 million to settle charges
that managers instructed workers to charge inflated work hours and 
$228,750 to settle allegations that it overcharged the government in an
$82 million tank ammunition contract ( Associated Press July 24, 2000).
However, Alliant received $1.3 billion in new contracts in 2003 alone.
What are $16 million in fines over 4 years in comparison? 150,000$ ?

* The state keeps hush, why it made such a drastic reduction in fine and
why the allegations are only alleged. It is an election year however and
both US senators for Minnesota have expressed their support for the
military. ATK made sure it has friends in high places: The Secretary of
the Army just appointed ATK Vice President of Logistics Robert D.
Shadley, as civilian aide for the State of Minnesota last June. The
political will to protect our environment and our health is poorly  represented.

Christine Ziebold MD PhD MPH
Pediatrician- TCAAP RAB member


> 
> MPCA Settles Alleged Violations at Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 06/09/2004
> 
> Saint Paul, Minn. - The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)
> announced today that the U.S. Army Environmental Center, Tennessee
> Valley Authority and Alliant Techsystems Inc. have agreed to pay a
> $150,000 penalty to settle alleged violations that occurred during a
> research cleanup project at the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant
> (TCAAP).
> 
> The violations stem from a phytoremediation project conducted on a
> portion of the TCAAP site. Phytoremediation is a technique where plants
> are used to extract pollutants from soil. In this instance, corn and
> mustard plants were used on a 90'x 90' plot in an attempt to remove lead
> from the soil. Lead at the site was a waste byproduct from the
> manufacture of ammunition.
> 
> The parties involved failed to obtain a permit for this project and some
> of the monitoring equipment used to track contamination was not properly
> maintained. The project should have been stopped after the first year
> when it was apparent that pollutants were moving deeper into the soil at
> the site.
> 
> To resolve these alleged violations, the Army will pay a $75,000 civil
> penalty, the Tennessee Valley Authority will pay $60,000 and Alliant
> Techsystems will pay $15,000.
> 
> The Army contracted with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to oversee
> phytoremediation projects to remove lead from soil, and the TCAAP site
> was selected as a site for one of these research projects in February
> 1998. The project got underway the following May, when the first crop of
> corn was planted and monitoring equipment was installed. Initial
> readings from monitors showed no detectable levels of pollutants.
> 
> During the summer of 1998, acetic acid and EDTA
> (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) were applied to the soil to make it
> easier for plants to take up the lead. Subsequent readings from monitors
> showed increasing amounts of lead and EDTA, indicating that pollutants
> were moving deeper into the soil. Although the TVA received these
> results in the fall of 1998, the information was not made available to
> others until December of 1999.
> 
> The project continued during the summer of 1999 despite the fact that
> TVA was having difficulty obtaining additional data from the monitors.
> When data from the previous years' testing was finally made available,
> it was agreed that additional ground-water monitoring was needed and
> monitoring wells were installed. Also, water samples collected from
> ditches adjacent to the test plot as well as the ground water beneath
> the plot showed elevated levels of lead and EDTA.
> 
> Contaminated ground water from below the test site has been extracted
> and treated to remove lead and EDTA since October 2000.
> 
> TCAAP is a federally-owned facility of approximately 4-square miles
> located in Arden Hills. Alliant Techsystems Inc. manufactured ammunition
> there beginning in 1941. It has been listed as a federal Superfund site
> since 1983, with at least 24 areas that have needed some level of
> cleanup.
> 
> for the original, see
> http://www.pca.state.mn.us/news/data/newsRelease.cfm?NR=263167&type=2
>
-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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