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Living
with Community - "Right To Know"
The
easiest way to identify a bodyshop (other than the sign out front)
is to look at the roof. Spray booth stacks, in most cases, are required
to clear the roof line by 6'. We've seen incidents where a shop
has run their booth exhaust out the side of the building and aimed
it at the ground. Sure, the spray booth still works; a shop can
still paint cars, but the shop could also be living on borrowed
time. It's called "Community Right to Know" and can be
a particularly painful issue for shop owners that have folks living
or working near their shop. If the neighbors complain about fumes,
residue or other by-products of an incorrectly positioned stack,
a shop owner can become subject to state nuisance laws. The
same thing can happen with incorrectly discharged wastewater from
water wash spray booths and wash bays. Obviously the 6' stack rule
doesn't apply here, but there have been incidents of the Dept. of
Natural Resources, the state Dept. of Environment and even the Coast
Guard tracking contamination by following a tributary and knocking
on the door of the source.
The
following is from The Environmental Guidebook as published by Environmental
Development Corporation of Findlay, Ohio:
"It
is impossible to own or operate a business, or to own, lease or
have a security interest in real estate without being exposed to
potential liability for violations of environmental, health and
safety laws. Environmental violations under a variety of federal,
state, and local environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act,
RCRA and CWA, expose companies, corporate officers, environmental
and facility managers and employees to fines of up to $25,000 per
day with provisions for criminal sentencing and fines of up to $250,000
for knowing endangerment".
Take a
moment to ask the question if there is any doubt about how your spray
booths are vented or your wastewater is discharged. Spending some
time on the phone to determine what risk there is (if any) of being
in violation and taking steps to correct it has got to be better than
a shop owner having to pay huge fines or spend time in jail.
Copyright
© Tara L. Munro. All Rights
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