Attorney General's News Release

December 9, 2009

Attorney General Koster settles with Fenton company for hazardous waste violations

--business agrees to $8,000 in penalties--

Jefferson City, Mo. - Attorney General Chris Koster and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources have reached a settlement with Enterprise Equipment in Fenton for violating the state's Hazardous Waste Management Law.

Koster said Enterprise Equipment failed to register as a hazardous waste generator; failed to determine if waste sent to a sanitary landfill was hazardous; and operated as a hazardous waste storage facility without first obtaining a permit. These are all violations of Missouri's Hazardous Waste Management Law.

Under the settlement agreement, Enterprise Equipment agreed to penalties of $8,000. He said the company will pay $1,000 to the St. Louis County School Fund. The remaining $7,000 is suspended contingent on the company committing no repeat violations for four years.

Koster said Enterprise Equipment is a petroleum equipment servicing contractor for multiple gasoline and diesel fuel dispensing facilities. He said a Department of Natural Resources' inspection found that Enterprise Equipment did not determine if the fuel filters were hazardous. The filters were transported from gasoline stations back to the Enterprise facility, drained, then disposed of in the trash. Koster said gasoline dispenser fuel filters not intended for recycling should be considered and managed as hazardous waste, unless sampling shows the waste not to be hazardous.

Koster said that with the oversight of the Department of Natural Resources, the company has corrected the hazardous waste violations.