The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says that Amphenol Aerospace paid a $945,000 penalty for falsifying waste treatment info for its plating operation.
The DEC says Amphenol — which bills itself as the “largest Military and Aerospace Connector Manufacturer in the world” — tampered with its weekly sampling reports and submitted false materials to DEC over a two-year period.
Amphenol Corp. operates the Amphenol Aerospace plating facility in the village of Sidney, approximately one mile from its administrative and manufacturing facilities.
DEC says it began investigating Amphenol Aerospace in April 2022 after being notified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of an anonymous complaint the facility had modified sampling practices by removing nitric acid from wastewater, drumming it into 55-gallon drums, and returning it back into the wastewater treatment system after weekly samples of effluent from the outfall had been collected.
Acting on the tip, Environmental Conservation Police Officers and DEC Division of Water employees inspected the facility and interviewed facility workers. The investigation determined discrepancies in nitrogen levels reported by the facility from December 2020 to March 2022.
83 Violations Discovered
To resolve the 83 violations of the facility's State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, DEC executed an Order on Consent with Amphenol Corp. In addition to paying the civil penalty, Amphenol Corp. has instituted procedures to avoid potential recurrences.
The consent decree says Amphenol acted swiftly to fix the issue when they were notified, writing that “Department Staff acknowledge that Respondent’s management, upon learning from its new Environmental Health and Safety Manager of the facts and circumstances described by this consent order, promptly terminated this practice, commenced an internal investigation into the facts and origin of the unauthorized practice, removed the Engineer, Environmental Health Safety & Sustainability who instituted the practice from that function, and instituted plans and procedures to avoid a potential recurrence.”
The consent decree stated:
- During the April 7, 2022 Inspection, Department Staff were informed that on March 17, 2022, Respondent’s newly appointed Environmental Health and Safety (“EHS”) Manager noticed that nitrogen levels Respondent was reporting in its sampling did not appear to be correct and suspected that those levels had been reported incorrectly since December 2020.
- During the April 7, 2022 Inspection, Respondent also provided information regarding the status and findings of its internal investigation, including that Facility plating department personnel had been instructed by Respondent’s former Engineer, Environmental Health Safety & Sustainability (“EEHSS”) to exclude nitrogen containing wastewater from the wastewater treatment system prior to weekly sampling and then add this waste to the treatment system following sampling.
- On June 2, 2022, DLE Staff conducted a follow-up inspection at the Facility along with two EPA investigators, during which eight of Respondent’s managers and employees were present while several of Respondent’s employees were interviewed (“June 2, 2022 Inspection”).
- During the June 2, 2022 Inspection, Respondent’s employees stated to Department Staff and EPA investigators that they had been directed by Respondent’s former EEHSS to remove nitric acid waste and drum it into 55 gallon drums and then bleed it back into the wastewater treatment system after the weekly samples of effluent from Outfall 001 had been collected.
- Respondent’s employees further stated to Department Staff and EPA investigators that this was done to avoid the need to report a potential exceedance of Respondent’s 12-month rolling nitrogen limit, which could have resulted in a violation of Respondent’s Permit, and that this process was conducted weekly from December 7, 2020 through March 17, 2022 (a period spanning approximately sixty-seven (67) weeks).
Amphenol Aerospace says it designs and manufactures QPL Mil-spec and custom circular and rectangular electrical and electronic connectors for the military and aerospace industries. They also specialize in designing and building high-speed cable assemblies, media converters, ethernet switches, fiber optic connectors, and cable assemblies, among other products.
