Culpeper faces $160K fine for 2008 chlorine leak

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently warned Culpeper of a potential $160,265 fine related to a chlorine gas leak at the town sewer plant in May 2008.

In a Nov. 15 letter, the EPA outlined its case against Culpeper, saying the town: 1) failed to immediately notify the National Response Center and state emergency response commission of the chlorine leak, as required by law; 2) failed to provide written follow-up reports to the state and local emergency officials “as soon as practicable” after the gas release, as required by law and, 3) does not have proper risk management or written safety procedures in place in dealing with the potentially lethal gas.

“Should the town and EPA fail to reach a settlement agreement in this matter, EPA reserves the right to seek the maximum allowable penalty at law in litigation,” said the letter signed by Karen Melvin, EPA associate division director with the Office of Enforcement’s Hazardous Site Cleanup Division.

According to Culpeper Town Environmental Services recent departmental report, staff is working with legal staff to develop a counter proposal. Environmental Services Director Chris Hively said in an email last week, “We are in negotiations with the EPA and will hopefully have an agreement later this week.” Hively was not employed with the town at the time of the chlorine spill at the sewer plant off McDevitt Drive.

A plant worker suffered minor injuries in the Saturday morning chlorine gas leak that occurred while two employees were changing a 2,000-pound chlorine cylinder as part of a routine operation. A plant operator had removed a regulator from an empty tank and was installing it on a new tank. When she was unable to open the valve, she asked another worker for help.

As he exerted pressure on the valve, “It made a crack noise” and “gas shot out,” the plant operator said at the time. Both workers were wearing a breathing apparatus and gloves. They fled the building and called 911.

A small amount of the chlorine gas made contact with the male worker’s skin, causing a minor injury.

Inhaling the gas can cause death. No residents of the area were evacuated, but police closed East Chandler Street, Keyser Road and McDevitt Drive as a precaution. The Fredericksburg Fire Department Hazardous Materials Team responded to the incident.

The town’s sewer plant was upgraded and expanded in more recent years and no longer uses chlorine in the treatment process.

In 2009, two other plant employees were exposed to chlorine gas, but were not hurt.