Another problem for Peter Pan

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is suing Peter Pan Seafood Co. to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act at processing plants in Valdez and King Cove.

Under a proposed consent decree, Peter Pan and another company, PSF Inc., would pay a civil penalty of $750,000.

The decree lays out requirements to monitor and manage seafood processing waste discharges.

The EPA lawsuit also names Silver Bay Seafoods as a defendant, due to Silver Bay's recent purchase of Peter Pan's Valdez plant.

EPA penalizes American Seafoods nearly $1 million

Here's a news release with more details.

Case dismissed

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit opposing development of the Pebble mine. Here's the ruling.

Silver Bay Seafoods penalized $82,500

Silver Bay Seafoods paid an $82,500 penalty as part of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The case involved Clean Water Act violations at the company's Sitka processing plant, the EPA says.

BBRSDA, BBEDC sue EPA over proposed Pebble mine

Here are the lawsuit and a press release.

Trident penalized $297,000 in EPA settlement

Here's the press release.

U.S. Seafoods penalized $135,000

Details in this press release from the Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA and the seafood industry

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been on a tear lately, wrapping up enforcement cases against three companies:

Kloosterboer
North Pacific Seafoods
Norton Sound Economic Development Corp.

Two quick notes

The state has conducted a review of the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. Download the report here.

Also, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and some of her colleagues are sponsoring legislation to permanently exempt fishing boats from EPA regulation of incidental discharges. Here's a press release.

UniSea penalized $142,175

UniSea Inc., which operates a major seafood processing plant at Dutch Harbor, has settled a case involving alleged Clean Air Act violations.

The settlement includes a $142,175 penalty for UniSea, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says in this press release.

A Pebble bombshell

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is blocking the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine, citing potential harm to the Bristol Bay salmon fishery. Here's the press release.

We'll update this post with reaction as it comes in.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
Trout Unlimited
Natural Resources Defense Council
Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay
U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska
U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska
Bristol Bay Native Corp.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
The Pebble Partnership
Center for American Progress
Earthjustice
State Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage
Sharon Leighow, spokeswoman for Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell
New York Times editorial
Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association
Anchorage Daily News editorial
Seattle Times editorial
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner editorial

EPA fines three fishing companies

Three companies operating large groundfish vessels off Alaska have paid fines to settle pollution cases, the Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

The three companies are Blue North Fisheries, Fishing Company of Alaska and Golden Fleece.

Here's a press release.

Engine dealer penalized over Bristol Bay boats

To settle a federal air pollution case, RDI Marine has agreed to pay a $39,000 fine and replace or modify diesel engines installed on six Bristol Bay commercial fishing vessels.

More details in this press release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA fines three fishing companies

Three fishing companies have agreed to pay fines to settle federal pollution violations involving vessels operating off Alaska.

The three companies are Aleutian Spray Fisheries, Ocean Peace and United States Seafoods.

Here's the press release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Icicle fined $430,000 for refrigerant violations

Icicle Seafoods Inc. has agreed to pay a $430,000 penalty to resolve Clean Air Act violations including refrigerant leaks from company vessels and processing plants, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

This is the second major Alaska seafood company to settle refrigerant violations. American Seafoods Co. in June agreed to pay a $700,000 penalty.

EPA clobbers American Seafoods over refrigerants

Here's the press release.

EPA says big mining could hurt Bristol Bay salmon

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today issued a draft assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed, and whether large-scale mining could harm its famed salmon runs.

The assessment was done in response to the clamor over the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine, although the EPA says it didn't focus in-depth on any specific project.

Bottom line is, the EPA report "concludes that there is potential for certain activities associated with large-scale mining to have adverse impacts on the productivity and sustainability of the salmon fishery in the watershed."

The EPA stops far short, however, of declaring that major mining projects in the Bristol Bay watershed should be forbidden right here and now.

Find the full assessment report here. And here's an EPA press release.

St. Paul concerns resolved, EPA files revised settlement packing $2.5 million fine for Trident

Back in September, we told you about a major enforcement action the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was taking against Alaska's biggest fish processor, Seattle-based Trident Seafoods Corp.

The EPA said Trident had agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty and invest millions of dollars at its various plants to control fish wastes.

After that announcement, interests out of St. Paul, the island community at the center of the Bering Sea, raised certain concerns about the deal.

Now the government says those concerns have been resolved, and an amended settlement has been filed that still includes the $2.5 million fine for Trident and the waste control requirements.

One of those requirements calls for Trident to build a fishmeal plant at Naknek, primary hub of the huge Bristol Bay salmon fishery, by June 1, 2015.

Trident to pay $2.5 million, build fishmeal plant at Bristol Bay to settle pollution violations with EPA

From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

Sept. 28, 2011

Trident Seafoods Corp. to pay $2.5 million to resolve Clean Water Act violations and spend more than $30 million to upgrade processing plants

Settlement to reduce discharges of seafood processing waste by more than 100 million pounds annually

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice today announced that Trident Seafoods Corp., one of the world's largest seafood processors, has agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty and invest millions in seafood processing waste controls to settle alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.

Unauthorized discharges of seafood processing waste lead to large seafood waste piles on the seafloor, creating anoxic, or oxygen-depleted, conditions that result in unsuitable habitats for fish and other living organisms.

"Today's settlement signals an important change in how seafood processing is managed in Alaska," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "Trident's investment in fishmeal facilities and commitment to improving its waste management practices will help protect our nation's waters and set the standard for Alaska's seafood processing industry."

"This agreement will benefit the quality of Alaskan waters, which host a critical habitat for the seafood industry," said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The upgrades will enable Trident to achieve and maintain compliance with the Clean Water Act, and will protect Alaskan waters, eliminate waste and create efficiencies that will serve as a model of best business practices for the seafood processing industry."

The agreement requires Trident to invest an estimated $30-40 million, and potentially more, in source control and waste pile remediation measures. The source control measures include building a fishmeal plant in Naknek that will have the capacity to handle at least 30 million pounds of seafood processing waste annually, taking in both its own fish waste and potentially that of other local processors.

Trident has also agreed to reduce the amount of seafood processing waste discharged from the Akutan, Cordova, St. Paul and Ketchikan facilities and monitor the amount of seafood processing waste discharged into Starrigavan Bay in Sitka. The actions taken will reduce Trident's fish processing discharges by a total of more than 105 million pounds annually.

The company has also agreed to remediation measures including studying seafloor waste piles at Trident's facilities in Akutan, Ketchikan and Cordova. Based on the results of these studies, Trident will remove or partially remediate the piles. One seafood processing waste pile in Akutan Harbor is currently estimated to be more than 50 acres in size.

The EPA complaint, also filed as part of this legal action, alleges that Trident had more than 480 Clean Water Act violations at 14 of its onshore and offshore Alaskan seafood processing facilities. The alleged violations include discharging without a necessary permit, exceeding discharge limits, failing to comply with permit restrictions on discharge locations (including discharges into at least two national wildlife refuges), and creating oxygen-depleting "zones of deposit" or underwater piles of fish processing waste occupying more than the allowed one acre of seafloor. The company also allegedly failed to conduct required monitoring and implement required best management practices.

Over the past decade, Trident has been a party to multiple administrative enforcement agreements and judicial consent decrees resolving similar violations at many of the same facilities.

The settlement was lodged in federal court in Seattle, Wash., and is subject to a 30-day public comment period.

For more information on the settlement and a copy of the consent decree, click here.

Feds say radiation poses no seafood safety threat

A trio of federal agencies today issued this fact sheet concluding that seafood imports and U.S. fishing grounds are free of contamination from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.