Sims Metal Fined for Polluting San Francisco Bay

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency & U.S. Department of Justice Fined Sims Metal Management $189,500 for Polluting San Francisco Bay with Scrap Metal Debris in Violation of the Federal Clean Water Act

Since at least the early 1990s, Sims operated a conveyor belt without adequate pollution controls to prevent materials from falling off the conveyor and into the Bay.

"More than 40 years after Congress passed the Clean Water Act, it is appalling that companies continue to pollute San Francisco Bay," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA's Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "Taking strong enforcement action against polluters like Sims Metal is needed if we are to once and for all end illegal dumping into the fragile Bay ecosystem."

Sims processes and exports more than 300,000 tons of scrap metals from over 200,000 recycled vehicles and other equipment each year to China and other global destinations out of its Port of Redwood City facility. During a stormwater permit inspection in 2011, EPA discovered evidence of scrap metal pollution into the Bay from the company's conveyor belt.

At the time, Sims had no protective covering on the conveyor moving scrap metals from its shredder and onto ships, so the metal dust blew off the top and fell off the sides of the belt and into the Bay. EPA tested the shoreline near the conveyor and found high levels of toxic metals including mercury, lead, copper, zinc and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Source: EPA

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