Owners of a former auto shop near the Winooski River in Burlington agreed this week to pay $70,000 to settle claims that it violated state environmental regulations for hazardous waste disposal and storage.
Members of Burlington’s Handy family admitted to violating 11 of the state’s hazardous waste management rules. A Washington Superior Court judge approved the settlement Aug. 1.
“Vermont businesses that generate and handle hazardous waste must follow the State’s hazardous waste management rules,” Attorney General Bill Sorrell said in a statement this week. “Those rules protect the public health and the environment. We take violations of the rules seriously.”
The Sisters and Brothers Investment Group, a family partnership, owned the former M&H Auto and a car lot on Flynn Avenue. In February 2012, the Agency of Natural Resources investigated an oil spill at the Riverside Avenue facility. It found that oil had migrated toward a stormwater catch basin that empties into the Winooski River, according to court documents. The documents do not indicate that the oil polluted the river.
The agency also found dozens of storage tanks containing hazardous waste either stored outdoors, rusted and dented, without lid covers, or not labeled or mislabeled. The company later hired TMC Environmental to remove the waste.
According to court documents, the Handy family said several drums were used by previous tenants. Prior to the agreement, the family implemented appropriate hazardous waste disposal and transportation plans; as a result, the agency will not require the company to adopt a formal compliance plan.
