Company responds to EPA complaints
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The Westminster-based metal company that was cited by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in June says they have been taking steps to remedy the situation since 2006.

The company was cited for regulator infractions by the federal agency because according to the EPA the company has not established a monitoring and testing system for the storm water run-off on the property.

"The complaint against Ranor is not for discharging chemicals into the waters of the United States," the company's written statement reads.

The EPA charges that the company violated the Clean Water Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA.) EPA New England filed an administrative complaint for the company's discharges of storm water without a permit and the failure to submit to EPA Toxic Release Inventory Forms.

The company released a written statement as it's response to the EPA filings and company officials decided not to comment further because of the legal proceedings involved. The statement was released by Stan Youtt, the CEO of Ranor, Inc.

"Not filing paperwork is a serious issue, which as pointed out in the EPA press release can result in very substantial penalties," he wrote. "Ranor management took action immediately after being made aware of these requirements by EPA officials in April 2006. Ranor hired GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., a nation wide envi- ronmental consulting firm, to assist with the filing of these reports and has cooperated fully with any EPA request for information. The TRI report was filed in May 2006 and the SWPPP was submitted to the EPA in September 2006."

Ranor says they have been testing the water during the course of the last year.

"Testing since September 2006 indicates that although storm water runoff from our facility contains metals in amounts that exceed EPA industrial benchmarks, they are under the EPA requirements for tap water based on the EPA Risk-Based Concentration Table. Tap water is considered safe for bathing or laundry," reads the statement.

The company is located on 65 acres off Bella Drive and operates a 125,000 square foot manufacturing facility at that location. The company said the chemicals listed by the EPA - chromium, nickel and manganese - are located in the facility as solid metal plates.

"Only very small quantities of these chemicals are discharged into the air/water with the vast majority leaving the company as finished product or as scrap," according to the statement.

"Ranor has provided copies of our Storm Water Runoff Plan as well as storm water runoff analysis data to the Westminster Board of Health and to the Westminster Wetlands Commission," according to the statement. "In addition, the Westminster Fire Department has reviewed details regarding chemicals stored at our facility and has been provided a detailed site map."