Coit, Kilmartin file suit against two companies for violations

A COMPLAINT was filed in Superior Court Wednesday against two Allens Avenue companies for alleged environmental violations from their scrap metal recycling operation by state Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit and Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin, who is pictured.  / COURTESY R.I. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE
A COMPLAINT was filed in Superior Court Wednesday against two Allens Avenue companies for alleged environmental violations from their scrap metal recycling operation by state Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit and Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin, who is pictured. / COURTESY R.I. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE

(Updated 9:58 a.m.) PROVIDENCE – A complaint was filed in Superior Court Wednesday against two Allens Avenue companies for alleged environmental violations from their scrap metal recycling operation by state Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit and Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin.
The court action follows a violation notice issued by the state department three years ago against the companies, which are along the Providence waterfront, according to a press release from DEM.
The complaint was filed against Rhode Island Recycled Metals LLC at 434 and 444 Allens Ave.; property owner AARE LLC; and Edward Sciaba Sr., the on-site manager for Rhode Island Recycled Metals.
A message left for Sciaba regarding the complaint was not immediately returned.
The complaint is for violations of Rhode Island’s Oil Pollution Control Act and Water Pollution Act, and DEM’s Water Quality Regulations, RI Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Regulations and Oil Pollution Control Regulations.
The officials are seeking a court order to force the companies to stop all activities that are causing or contributing to oil spillage into and near the Providence River; to install storm water controls to prevent pollution; and to comply with permits issued to the company by DEM.
Coit and Kilmartin are also asking the court to impose penalties against the companies for failure to comply with a consent agreement executed with DEM in July 2013.
“These corporations failed to obtain the permits that were required to begin operations, ignored the law and then did not comply with the agreement they reached with DEM to resolve their environmental violations,” Coit said in a statement. “By failing to invest in the equipment and other measures necessary to prevent pollution, their actions harmed the environment.”
Said Kilmartin, “Despite several attempts to address the violations through administrative procedures, these companies have failed to clean up their act, and we have no choice but to have this matter resolved in court.”
Inspections by DEM in October and December 2014 and January and February 2015, as well as inspections by the U.S. Coast Guard in January 2015, revealed that the companies failed to comply with the mitigative measures; install the storm water controls required by the agreement; remove derelict vessels and restore the shoreline; and prevent oil spillage to the land and water, according to the release.
Save the Bay released a statement applauding the action taken by Coit and Kilmartin.
Save the Bay said it has contacted the DEM and the Coast Guard repeatedly over the years about the company.
“We will continue to report violations to regulatory authorities until Rhode Island Recycled Metals operates in full compliance with state and federal environmental laws,” Save the Bay Executive Director Jonathan Stone said.

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