September 5, 2006

Judge Joseph J. Farah, Genesee County 7th Circuit Court, has upheld a $121,650 penalty imposed by the Department of Environmental Quality on a former Monroe County underground storage tank owner who failed to properly investigate and act on tank releases that occurred in December 2002.

The penalty addresses property located in Monroe County and failure of the owner, V. K. Vermulapalli, to:

• Take all appropriate actions to investigate and clean up contamination
  by waste oil released from underground tanks into soil and groundwater
  observed by DEQ staff on December 23, 2002;

• Take action to prevent and clean up continuing releases from the
  tanks, which were left on the property after being removed from the
  ground; and

• Submit required reports to the DEQ.

The investigations and required reports were to have been completed by the owner within one year of the reported release. Following repeated DEQ requests to Vermulapalli for voluntary compliance, the department imposed the $121,650 administrative penalty in October 2004, for failure to submit the required Final Assessment Report.

On August 21, 2006, the Circuit Court hearing was held to hear oral arguments and Judge Farah found the DEQ had acted in accordance with the law when imposing the administrative penalty.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

“Protecting Michigan’s Environment, Ensuring Michigan’s Future”

Revised September 5, 2006 by Pat Watson