Wednesday, August 27, 2008

EPA orders Presstek to pay fine, help schools

By Mass High Tech Staff

Presstek Inc., a maker of digital printing products for graphic arts and laser imaging companies, has agreed to pay $31,000 in fines and to volunteer on curriculum-building with local public schools in response to federal environmental violations related to a chemical spill at one of its Massachusetts manufacturing facilities in 2006.

Hudson, N.H.-based Presstek’s volunteer project, which is valued at $70,000, entails developing a green chemistry curriculum for Massachusetts schools. The curriculum will be pilot tested at Quincy High School during the upcoming school year and then presented publicly at a workshop open to Massachusetts educators during the summer of 2009. The work is under the Environmental Protection Agency ‘s supplemental environmental project (SEP) program, a voluntary program offered by the EPA to mitigate penalties for some offenders.

The fines stem from an incident in October 2006 when 751 pounds of hydrofluoric acid, considered an extremely hazardous chemical, were released to the environment through a ventilation fan in the Presstek facility in South Hadley, which is now closed. The spill caused the evacuation of approximately 90 residents living within a one-mile radius of the facility and required that the South Hadley public schools be closed as a precautionary measure the following day.

In the aftermath of the incident, the EPA alleged that Presstek failed to design and maintain a safe facility, in violation of the Clean Air Act. EPA determined that insufficient safety controls and operator error were the likely causes of the chemical release.

Founded in 1987, Presstek provides digital printing and imaging products and services to the enterprise and consumer markets. The company went public in 1991 and reported a $12.2 million net loss on $255 million in revenue in 2007.