Nassau Settles Federal Environmental Lawsuit

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York announced this week that it has settled an environmental lawsuit with Nassau County. As a result, the county will have to pay more than $400,000 in penalties.

The settlement was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme. It addressed the county's failure to comply with federal regulations for underground storage tanks, and with an EPA administrative order at 48 county facilities. In doing so, the county violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). As part of the settlement, Nassau will have to install equipment to assure adequate leak detection at all county facilities, and also pay a civil penalty of $427,500.

“The United States is pleased to announce this settlement with Nassau County that will
help protect the health and safety of county residents and our groundwater, which may be
jeopardized when underground storage tanks are not properly monitored,” DuCharme said. “The settlement enforces RCRA’s underground storage tank regulations at Nassau’s facilities, which are critical to mitigate the risk of spills and leaks. This office will vigorously enforce RCRA against parties who illegally operate underground storage tanks and compromise the safety of our community.”

According to DuCharme, the Environmental Protection Agency filed a complaint against the county alleging that it repeatedly failed to comply with underground storage tank safety requirements at 33 facilities between 2008 and 2010. The EPA and the county settled those claims in 2012. However, the county failed to complete the work requirements that were part of the settlement, DuCharme said.

In addition, DuCharme said the county continued to violate the regulations from 2012 to 2017 at multiple facilities.

This new settlement requires the county to fully comply with underground storage tank regulations. It will have to install and operate release detection equipment and overfill and spill prevention equipment, upgrade some of its storage tanks and close others. The county will have to install and operate a centralized monitoring system, which will allow it to quickly respond to any leaks in county facilities.