HANOVER — The Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab has agreed to pay a $200,000 fine for violations of state law governing hazardous waste disposal.
The civil forfeiture came after CRREL resolved 24 hazardous waste violations at the facility that were identified during a 2021 inspection. Violations included failing to identify hazardous waste, shipping hazardous waste for disposal as non-hazardous, and issues with storage and reporting, according to a news release from New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella.
“Compliance with our Hazardous Waste laws and regulations is critical to the continued safety of the public and protection of our natural resources,” Formella said in a statement. “We hold all generators and handlers of hazardous waste, including the federal government, to strict compliance with the law. Civil penalties like this one are an important tool to deter noncompliance.”
The $200,000 fine will go into New Hampshire’s hazardous waste clean-up fund that is used to clean contaminated sites around the state, according to RSA 147-B.
CRREL has paid the fine, spokesperson Justin Campfield said Thursday.
In 2024, DES issued a letter of compliance confirming that CRREL had resolved all of the issues found in 2021. The letter did not eliminate the lab’s liability for violating the law, leading to the fine.
In a 2021 inspection, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services identified 24 hazardous waste violations at the Lyme Road facility, including several counts of improperly identifying and disposing of hazardous waste such as oily rags and water containing trace amounts of trichloroethylene, or TCE.
TCE was used at CRREL as a refrigerant until 1987 and contamination from the carcinogen has long been an issue at the laboratory where thousands of gallons were accidentally discharged between 1960 and 1980. TCE exposure can cause changes to immunity, liver problems and birth defects, as well as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, liver cancer and kidney cancer.
CRREL operates a groundwater treatment facility on site to handle the TCE contamination.
According to the 2021 inspection, CRREL was not treating water or filters used in the system as hazardous waste, despite some containing trace amounts of TCE. Because of this “the waste may not have been treated or disposed of properly.” CRREL also did not identify oily rags as hazardous, despite being contaminated with flammable crude oil.
CRREL “took immediate actions to comply” with these violations, including adjusting “material labeling and shipping processes” in the aftermath, Campfield said.
DES also outlined issues with CRREL’s training program for employees handling emergency management and hazardous waste. Several employees did not have up-to-date hazardous waste trainings as of 2021, according to the inspection report.
The violations “put employees at the Facility at risk of harm by failing to adequately train those employees,” according to the letter of deficiency.
After the inspection, CRREL, which is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “either enrolled staff in certification courses or provided documentation showing that those requirements had already been met but not yet reported to the state,” Campfield said.
CRREL has a history of hazardous waste violations. In 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency fined the lab $89,500 for violations. “Several” of the violations found in 2021 were also found during inspections in 2007 and 2013.
“As confirmed by NHDES’ March 20, 2024, letter of compliance, all issues identified in the inspection have been resolved and brought into compliance,” Campfield said when asked if CRREL has made any changes to ensure the same violations don’t reoccur. “CRREL will continue to vigorously monitor its hazardous materials management process and is confident it has the policies and personnel in place to ensure continued compliance.”
