The EPA issued over $500,000 in fines against Alaska businesses in 2024, for violating such things as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Some of the violations are due to simple deficits in recordkeeping and most fines were settlements with the entities listed.
In one violation cited by the EPA, Couer Alaska, a mining company working in Southeast Alaska, did not treat leather work gloves and leather mining belts as hazardous waste, as required by the agency.
Click on the names of the companies in blue to see the violations for which they were cited:
| Absolute Services, Inc. | Anchorage, AK | Toxic Substances Control Act | $1,000 |
| Airgas USA LLC | Palmer, AK | Clean Air Act | $800 |
| AK Flood Restoration LLC | Anchorage, AK | Toxic Substances Control Act | $200 |
| Alaska Stormwater Maintenance Yard | Anchorage, AK | Clean Water Act | $2,188 |
| Cellnetix Pathology and Laboratories | Palmer, AK | Resource Conservation and Recovery Act | $12,500 |
| Coeur Alaska, Inc. | Juneau, AK | Resource Conservation and Recovery Act | $15,000 |
| Dawson Development, Inc. | Anchorage, AK | Toxic Substances Control Act | $1,000 |
| Dunlap Builders LLC | Anchorage, AK | Toxic Substances Control Act | $200 |
| Durham School Services | Palmer, AK | Safe Drinking Water Act | $164,000 |
| Granite Construction | Anchorage, AK | Clean Water Act | $8,438 |
| K&W Interiors, Inc. | Anchorage, AK | Toxic Substances Control Act | $1,000 |
| Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District | Palmer, AK | Safe Drinking Water Act | $42,000 |
| Municipality of Skagway | Skagway, AK | Clean Water Act | $1,613 |
| Petro Star, Inc. | Anchorage, AK | Clean Water Act | $1,575 |
| Pioneer Floorcare LLC | Chugiak, AK | Toxic Substances Control Act | $1,000 |
| Quality Asphalt Paving | Anchorage, AK | Clean Water Act | $13,711 |
| Roy Briley Property Services LLC | Anchorage, AK | Toxic Substances Control Act | $2,000 |
| Silver Bay Seafoods – False Pass LLC | Port Moller, AK | Clean Air Act | $1,200 |
| Steve of All Trades LLC | Anchorage, AK | Toxic Substances Control Act | $200 |
| United States Army Garrison Fort Wainwright | Fairbanks, AK | Resource Conservation and Recovery Act | $233,300 |
| United States Coast Guard Base Kodiak | Kodiak, AK | Resource Conservation and Recovery Act | $17,926 |
| US Ecology Alaska LLC | Anchorage, AK | Resource Conservation and Recovery Act | $1,250 |
| Walmart Supercenter No 2722 | Fairbanks, AK | Resource Conservation and Recovery Act | $20,000 |
Note the Army being fined half the overall total. We knew this decades ago, whether it was EPA or DEC. If they need money or recognition, they go after the deep pockets or evil entities. They simply conduct a surprise inspection (or even a scheduled one), and they WILL find violations. This should be no surprise to anybody…….unless you’ve been living in a protected bubble.
All the more reason to curtail the EPA>
I know of another major corporation in Alaska that was recently fined severely for throwing leather gloves in the trash instead of a proper hazmat container. The reason stated by EPA is that leather gloves are treated with bromide which is a hazardous material. So my question is, if millions of leather gloves can be worn by people all over the world with no problem, whether at home or at a business — touching peoples’ skin — and regular people are throwing worn leather gloves away in their trash, how is it any more dangerous for these companies to be throwing away worn leather gloves. It’s not like these companies are throwing away hundreds, thousands, etc. pairs of worn leather gloves away every day. This same company was told by OSHA that workers cannot wear regular mechanics gloves while doing regular work to protect hands from scrapes — they have to wear cut-protective gloves. WHAT?! If the worker is not cutting anything, why do they need to wear cut-protective gloves that have less dexterity than just regular mechanics gloves to protect their hands from simple scrapes or bruising? Too much government control!
Perhaps the idiocracy of one government agency fining another should also be evaluated.
So! They are fining the MILITARY? That is the federal government fining the federal government. Which means the TAXPAYERS foot the bill. But maybe the money will go into the military budget? Is this not Alice in Wonderland?
By the way, who inspects the EPA? That would be like a Watchdog devouring his tail in order to avoid starving to death.
See this and tell me if it was not prescient. It was a top Super Bowl commercial maybe 15 years ago:
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GemJWrp0nAM
Who do you think foots the bill when problems arise? I guess since Alaskan’s don’t pay taxes the citizens were not really paying for 20% of the North Pole water system the State of Alaska paid for.
leo, if the EPA were non-existent, the North Polians (or is it Puddlians?) would simply sue to get the polluter to clean up their mess. We just don’t need or want a nosy, arrogant, woke government agency to do that for us. And leo, disabuse yourself of the notion that Alaskans pay no taxes… We might not pay the same ones you do, but we are Taxed Enough Already, and we have the burden of federal control of almost everything.
I don’t see Hilcorp on the list.
The EPA needs to be reigned in and shrunk. Too many unelected bureaucrats with far too much power and influence on our energy and economy.
Speaking of unelected bureaucrats with far too much power and influence……
It’s all paperwork, nothing more.
Get rid of the EPA. Let corporations police themselves. They know that if they contaminate the water or the air that the public will hold them accountable by not buying their products. That’s how the free market works. The EPA is just another useless government agency that wastes money and forces companies to follow expensive arbitrary rules. A little bit of pollution is just the cost of living in a modern, high-tech society. the earth can any impact we have on it.
The EPA is playing pothole – threaten to cut DOT’s budget and they stop filling potholes – people scream at Congress, Congress asks why, DOT says we need more money… So EPA issues ridiculous fines for sometimes stupid reasons like throwing away leather gloves to show that they are “important” enough not to have their budget and workforce cut or the agency be disbanded.
EPA is a useless organization. Each state has a DEC, so they are now redundant. Congress needs to STOP with the needless, intrusive laws that impede business and do NOTHING to improve the air and water.
If the EPA would not of stepped in in 1989 who knows how big the problem would of gotten. I am glad you think the people of North Pole have the resources to fund the investigation and bring a case against the polluters. In this case it appears to be around 9 years from beginning to ruling by Alaska Supreme Court in 2023. Since you pay taxes you help contribute around 20 million dollars to clean up this mess. Which is my point. Taxpayers do end up paying.
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