Staff reports Friday, May 18, 2007

C.N. Brown, based in South Paris, was fined $175,500 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to have secondary containment barriers around above-ground oil tanks at seven locations in Maine and New Hampshire, according to David Deegan of the EPA.

The company also agreed to invest $1 million to bring their facilities into compliance with federal regulations.

A news release on the settlement was issued Wednesday by the EPA.

Deegan said that, once C.N. Brown officials learned of the noncompliance, they surveyed their remaining facilities and voluntarily reported other sites which needed upgrading.

Facilities that store or distribute oil or petroleum products must have oil spill prevention measures.

"C.N. Brown had plans on the books, but they were not updated properly," Deegan said.

Deegan said each of the seven facilities held up to a maximum of 1,320 gallons of oil.

The other offending Maine sites were in Rumford and in South Paris, near the company's headquarters, Deegan said.

The facilities were inspected by the EPA and a representative from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

A spokesman for C.N. Brown was unavailable to comment Thursday.