UGA settles with EPA over hazardous waste violations

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – The University of Georgia will spend more than $400,000 after federal inspectors found dozens of safety violations in the way it handles hazardous waste.

Under a “consent agreement and final order” with the Environmental Protection Agency, the university will pay a $99,900 penalty and spend $333,000 over the next 18 months on programs that will help “local public school districts and emergency response organizations in low-income areas” upgrade hazardous waste practices, response capabilities and materials handling.

The Athens Banner-Herald reports UGA President Jere Morehead signed the agreement Wednesday with Larry Lamberth, chief of the EPA’s Region 4 Enforcement and Compliance Branch.

In inspections dating back to October 2014, EPA found violations in a number of UGA buildings and a lab in the Riverbend Research Lab North.

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