ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AND SMALL BUSINESS
by: Independent Business Association

Many small businesses unknowingly violate environmental laws or fail to protect themselves from environmental liability. Unknowing violations or failing to protect themselves from environmental liability can be extremely costly - $l,000s to $l00,000s .

NOTICE: The following information is intended to alert the reader to common actions by small business owners that can result in these kinds of problems. It is not a comprehensive review of all environmental laws and is not intended to assure compliance with any environmental laws.  Nor does it identify all potential violations by small business owners as environmental laws are highly complex and extremely broad in scope. If the reader has any questions regarding any action dealing with environmental issues, they are advised to consult with an attorney experienced in the type of environmental law ill question.

Overview

The four most common environmental problems small business owners face are:

We will discuss each of these below. Here are the major types of environmental protections:

Hazardous Materials and Hazardous Waste

What are hazardous materials or hazardous waste. Any container with a Warning label about the contents usually contains hazardous materials. Many very common materials are hazardous like lead, paint, pesticides, solvents, oils, gasoline, other fuels, etc.

Businesses are required to store hazardous materials correctly to avoid their being released on to the soil, into the water or into the air. Proper storage is important. Fire, and safety and health regulations also set storage requirements in many cases. For many hazardous materials, you are required to store the materials in a fire resistant cabinet. Hazardous liquids usually must be stored within secondary containment so if the first container leaks, the secondary container.  Businesses must be aware of their total responsibility for the disposal of hazardous materials and waste. IF the hazardous materials/waste you dispose if somehow end up contaminating the environment -EVER -you can be held liable for the entire clean-up of the contamination. Often, small businesses dispose of small amounts hazardous materials/waste in the regular garbage. There are cases where businesses that have done that have been assessed for the clean up of contamination from a public landfill. T o minimize that potential liability, a business should use a hazardous waste disposer, The cost is higher but if you use the right disposer who certifies the waste was ultimately destroyed, your liability can be minimized. There are programs in larger cities where you can take the waste to a the disposer and reduce the costly pick-up and transportation costs.

The key to minimizing your liability for hazardous materials/waste is to use up all of the materials so you have nothing to dispose of, and minimize to the greatest extent possible the amount of hazardous waste you generate. Never mix two hazardous wastes, the cost of disposal increases many times as compared to not mixing the same wastes. Always look for opportunities to recycle a waste or find someone who wants to use the waste to make some other product. This changes it from hazardous waste to a raw material but you must be very sure that the firm that takes your "material" and handles it properly or you can get stuck with the total costs of cleaning up any mis-use of the material.

There are specific regulations on the disposal of hazardous materials/waste. lBA has prepared a special report on disposal of hazardous materials/waste. Request IBA Document 2201.

Depending on the waste, the regulations require a business to dispose of more than 2.2 pounds per month is extremely hazardous waste or more than and up to 220 of standard hazardous waste per month without having to get a hazardous waste management permit, provided you manage the waste properly.  Remember, no matter how little the amount of waste you dispose of, if you dispose of it wrong, you can be held totally liable for all clean up costs because of your actions.

Contaminating Water

Businesses have four major potential ways to contaminate water. One is stormwater. Second is the sanitary sewer. Third is pouring contamination into storm drains. Fourth is contaminating a septic system or drywell.

We will briefly review each below.

Stormwater can be easily contaminated in many ways. Oil runoff from a parking lot contaminates stormwater. So does soil erosion. The big challenge with stormwater is that it generally is discharged, untreated to a local stream, river, lake or saltwater body. So contamination of stormwater must be avoided. NEVER pour anything into a stormwater drain -even if it is not raining. lBA once helped a member who built metal storage tanks who filled the finished tank with tap water to test for leaks. After the tank was tested, the water was released into a storm drain. But tap water has been chlorinated to make it safe to drink, But the tap water was considered contaminated and the business was cited for it. If you contaminate stormwater and therefore contaminate a larger water body, you firm can be held responsible for clean-up of the contaminated water body and restoration of aquatic life in it.

You are also prohibited from discharging hazardous materials/waste in a sanitary sewer unless you have the permission of the sewer utility .Sewer utilities are extremely good at tracking the source of contamination up stream to its source. Violators can face large fines and huge disposal costs of water they have contaminated.

NEVER dump any chemicals into a storm drain.  That drain almost always leads directly to a surface water body and whatever you dump in the storm drain will contaminate that surface water and YOU will get stuck with a fine and the clean up costs. Regulators are very good a finding the source of contaimination.

Finally, do not dispose of anything other than clean water into a septic system or drywell as you may contaminate the ground water in the ground. The costs of cleaning up groundwater contamination are huge.

Buying Contaminated Property

Unfortunately too many small business owners who buy a business facility, also buy a huge liability - a contaminated site they are totally responsible to clean up. NEVER buy any property without first having a top quality firm do an environmental assessment of the property. An environmental assessment will review past uses of the land, search for any records indicating there was an underground tank somewhere on the site, do a visual inspection and do a number soil samples looking for possible contamination.

If you buy contaminated property, you are legally and totally responsible for the clean-up of the contamination. Yes, you can try and force others to pay for the clean up. If you are successful, good, but it will cost you a lot money to be successful in most cases. If you can't make others pay, you get stuck with the entire bill, which can easily cost $l0,000s to $100,000’s.

Contaminated Soil >Never dispose of any hazardous material, solid or liquid, by spreading it on the ground. Now, even farmers are being faced with the potential that the pesticide residue on the land makes the land contaminated and they must pay to have it cleaned up.

Cleaning up contaminated soils can be extremely costly. You are totally liable for the cost of any clean up of contaminated soil you create or you own.

Air Pollution

If your business does spray painting, has open solvent cleaners, metal finishing, produces smoke, does work on refrigeration equipment, or does any work dealing with asbestos you probably must comply with air pollution laws. We all deal with air pollution via the vehicles we drive.

Failure to comply with air pollution laws can result in costly fines. In most cases, you must register your firm with the proper authority and may have to install certain equipment to reduce or eliminate releases into the air.

For More Information

IBA members can request additional information by calling lBA at 425-453-8621.