Leaks Stopped, But Material Remains In HAZ-MERT Facility

ROGERS — Shannon Weathers said Thursday he off ered to clean up his business, HAZ-MERT, last year, but was stopped by governmental red tape.

An inspection Tuesday by representatives of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality revealed leaks in some of the materials stored at the site, said Cecillea Pond-Mayo, public information officer for the department. The facility is at 510 W. Post Road.

The leaks prompted the department to issue an emergency order for cleanup of leaking containers of flammable liquid and liquid oxidizers, according to a department news release.

The leaks were moving toward each other along the floor of the warehouse, which could have resulted in a fi re or chemical reaction, according to the department.

Waste Services Inc. of Little Rock was at the site Thursday after the bankruptcy court released $5,000 to use toward the cleanup.

“When it gets hot in here, the containers swell and leak around the bottom,” said Steve Neal, president of Waste Services. “There are five or six drums we’re having to address. We’re doing containment and cleaning them up. We’re not moving anything out.”

HAZ-MERT collected hazardous waste, placed itinto containers and disposed of it. The company also provided cleanup services for hazardous material spills and leaks.

Weathers said his company was forced into bankruptcy in July 2009 because they were owed more than $600,000 from customers who were unable to pay.

HAZ-MERT was found in noncompliance of Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality regulations in November 2008 and agreed to a $130,000 settlement and to bring the facility into compliance.

“We complied with everything and worked out a payment plan,” Weathers said. “But we never made the fi rst payment. We had to fi le bankruptcy and the lawyerstold us to hold off because of bankruptcy laws.”

Weathers said this week’s incident could have been averted had the Department of Environmental Qualitygiven him permission to clean up his warehouse.

“When we filed bankruptcy, I tried to get ADEQ to let me dispose of my material,” Weathers said. “We had a big meeting in September of 2009 and I was told they didn’t think I had the fi nances to do it.”

Weathers said he showed them his financial support for the cleanup and agency representatives said they did not want him inside the buildings.

“I asked in September of 2009 for four to six months to dispose of the waste,” Weathers said. “They told me that wasn’t a good enough timeframe. Now, here it is July, and it’s still not cleaned up.”

However, Pond-Mayo said implications arising from the September meeting are more complicated than paying fora cleanup.

“He had fi led bankruptcy in July, that’s the big issue,” Pond-Mayo said. “He wanted the cleanup to be a credit toward his bankruptcy and we couldn’t accept that because his assets were tied up in bankruptcy.”

Still, Weathers said he “tried and tried” to dispose of the containers to keep the original owners of the waste from having to pay for the cleanup.