MONTPELIER – The Agency of Natural Resources has been hit with fines totaling more than $100,000 for violating some of the same environmental policies it is customarily responsible for enforcing.
The Attorney General on Thursday handed down sanctions for 24 violations involving improper handling of hazardous waste at the agency’s R. A. LaRosa Environmental Laboratory in Waterbury. In the settlement filing, the Attorney General said, that among other violations, potentially contaminated waste was often disposed of down the drain or thrown in the trash; some hazardous waste had been stored in the lab for years; employees were not trained in handling hazardous waste; and the lab was not prepared for an emergency.
Commissioner of Environmental Conservation David Mears said the violations — which he says did not result in any severe environmental degradation — were discovered by members of his staff shortly after he took his job in early January.
“We’re still doing an internal investigation to determine what went wrong in the lab, and whether it was personnel problems or problems with procedure,” Mears said Wednesday. “But clearly there was a failure at some level.”
- Pete Hirschfeld | Staff Writer
More to the story in the Rutland Herald and Times Argus
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