Wholesale Grocer Distributor to Settle EPA Violations

As part of federal efforts to protect and restore Puget Sound, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has settled with Supervalu Holdings, Inc., a Minneapolis based national wholesale grocery distributor, for federal storm water pollution violations. The violations stem from EPA inspections at three Supervalu facilities (two in Tacoma, one in Auburn) in 2013, which documented several Clean Water Act violations at each facility. Supervalu has also agreed to pay a $120,000 penalty.

According to Ed Kowalski, director of EPA’s Office of Compliance and Enforcement in Seattle, the action is part of a broader campaign to protect and restore the health of Puget Sound.

Among the violations documented during the inspections (at all three facilities): 

• Failure to implement adequate storm water control measures;
• Failure to conduct visual or benchmark monitoring of storm water discharges;
• Failure to conduct or document required storm water inspections; and
• Inadequate Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP).

EPA’s storm water enforcement program helps ensure compliance at permitted and unpermitted industrial storm water sources across western Washington, reducing Puget Sound pollutants. In this case, the facilities discharged storm water to tributaries to either the Green River (Auburn, Wash.) or the Thea Foss Waterway (Tacoma, Wash.) which are directly connected to Puget Sound. Pollutants carried by storm water may be harmful to aquatic life and public health

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency