Plymouth-Earlier this month, Plymouth State University avoided $145,000 in civil penalties stemming from a complaint filed after an incident in June 2003 when an unmarked box containing chemicals in Boyd Hall caused a complete evacuation of the building.
The complaint was brought to PSU by the Environmental Protection Agency after visiting the school and discovering basic hazardous waste regulations being violated. These violations consisted largely of unmarked chemistry lab and art supply chemicals.
According to PSU’s press representative Michele Hutchins, “PSU developed an action agenda immediately following the inspections to address the concerns noted by the inspectors regarding the proper storage and disposal of chemicals, and all chemicals were properly stored or removed by a licensed hazardous waste contractor.”
These inspections were during Boyd Hall’s renovation project. Following the EPA inspection, the school began taking steps to ensure that the potentially hazardous chemicals would be handled and labeled properly. According to Hutchins, once the official complaints from the EPA were filed, “PSU had already brought the storage and disposal of hazardous waste to into compliance.”
When PSU received the complaint, President Wharton stated, “”The safety of our students, faculty and staff has always been paramount. We have been diligent in our efforts to address the concerns noted in the complaint since the inspection almost two years ago.”
As stated in the Laconia Citizen, PSU has already spent $52,000 in correcting the hazards related to the E.P.A. complaint.
To further show the school’s commitment to the safety of students and faculty, PSU has installed the supplemental environmental project (SEP).
“The SEP (which was part of the EPA settlement) is a pollution prevention and reduction program aimed as New Hampshire’s secondary school personnel through education and training,” says Hutchins.
As stated in the Citizen “[School] officials will work in conjunction with New Hampshire College and University Compliance Cooperation and the state. Department of Environmental Services is to create a regional hazardous material and waste management program to secondary school personnel across New Hampshire.”
With the success of bringing the school up to date with the proper disposal and storage of hazardous materials and the settlement that saved the University 145,000, the school has taken action by creating an education program about hazardous materials to secondary schools.