Durham Fined for May Sewage Spill: State: Flaw Should Have Been Caught
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By Michael Biesecker, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.  Sep. 16--DURHAM -- State environmental officials issued fines totaling $33,431 against Durham for the city's role in the collapse of a sewer line in May that spilled untreated sewage into the Eno River.
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By JOHN REID BLACKWELL  A state official tried to ease local residents' concerns about a controversial chemical found in water around DuPont's Spruance plant in Chesterfield County.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Department of Energy has proposed levying a fine of $3 million on the University of California, Berkeley, and a separate $300,000 fine on Los Alamos National Security (LANS) for their alleged failures to protect classified information in an October 2006 security breach. In addition, Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman ordered LANS to undertake specific actions to bolster its physical and IT security. A failure to implement the required measures within the prescribed time frame could result in the imposition of additional civil penalties of up to $100,000 per day for each violation, Bodman said in a compliance order issued today. The formal enforcement actions against both organizations follow months of investigation into the breach in which a contract worker at Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) illegally downloaded and removed classified data from the site via a thumb drive. The university managed and operated LANL from 1943 to May 2006. LANS, which is a limited liability corporation that comprises Bechtel, the university, and two other firms, took over management of LANL in June 2006. The university and LANS have 30 days to submit a written response to the notice of violations. A failure to do so would end their right to appeal the proposed penalties. "Investigations revealed that management deficiencies of both contractors were a central contributing factor" in the 2006 breach, a DOE statement said. The agency noted that the proposed civil penalty of $3 million is the largest it has ever assessed. In a formal Preliminary Notice of Violation addressed to Robert Foley, vice president of laboratory management at the University of California, the DOE listed five separate areas where the school failed to follow DOE requirements for protecting classified information. Those violations included a failure by the university to protect data ports, despite knowing about the vulnerability, and a failure to impose adequate escorting requirements to detect unauthorized access and removal of classified data. The school was also charged with violating the DOE's physical security requirements, as well as rules regarding roles and responsibilities and oversight of subcontractors. The notice of violation was sent by the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). In a similar notice to LANS, the NNSA listed many of the same violations. In addition, the NNSA said that LANS failed to stop the unauthorized reproduction of classified material both on paper and on removable electronic media and allowed the material to be stored in a private residence. In a statement, LANL acknowledged the DOE findings and said it has begun to take steps to address the problems. "In addition to creating a new organization to oversee cybersecurity, the Laboratory has already taken important, aggressive actions to reduce the total amount of its classified holdings and to consolidate those holdings into as few areas as possible without damaging productivity," LANL said. On July 10, the laboratory certified a new "super vault-type room" for storing classified data. Classified removable media at the laboratory have also been reduced by more than 85 percent since 2003, while classified repositories have been cut by 23 percent. In addition, processes have been implemented for random searches of personnel entering and exiting classified areas of the laboratory, and for mandatory searches of all those entering and exiting data vaults. "The Laboratory has committed to the DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration to make security improvements consistent with those outlined in the compliance order," the LANL statement said. The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The enforcement actions come just weeks after Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, wrote a letter to Bodman asking why his committee was not informed of another LANL breach involving nuclear secrets in January. Dingell, whose committee was looking into the October 2006 breach, claimed that his committee had deliberately not been informed of the one in January. "We find it unacceptable that throughout this period, several NNSA, Department of Energy, and LANL officials with specific knowledge of this incident met with us on multiple occasions, and a senior LANL official testified twice before the Subcommittee, without mentioning a word about this matter," Dingell wrote.
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By The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.  Sep. 20--CLEVELAND -- The Johnston County Utility Department lifted a boil water notice Tuesday in the Cleveland township of Johnston County.
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By Allyson Bond, High Point Enterprise, N.C.  Mar. 2--GLENOLA -- Test results for possible water contamination in Glenola near the Confluence Watersports facility were returned earlier this week stating none of the chemicals tested were detectable in the water.
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By Michael Biesecker, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.  Feb. 3--DURHAM -- Federal regulators want to take a closer look at Durham's lead testing results.
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By Alexandra Mayer-Hohdahl, The Sun, Lowell, Mass.  Jun. 19--LOWELL -- Members of the Lowell Fire Department and its Hazardous Materials Team worked early Monday afternoon to contain a substance that had been spotted on the water of the city's Northern Canal.
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By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD  ST. LOUIS - A state agency has offered to let a utility resolve claims for damages and fines stemming from a reservoir breach for $125 million, according to a settlement offer obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
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By Barbara Barte Osborn, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.  Jun. 11--GRASS VALLEY-A failure in the city's sewage system Sunday caused about 1,200 gallons of effluent to overflow from a manhole into Little Wolf Creek.
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By Matt Dees, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.  Sep. 24--DURHAM -- The bright yellow fugitives made a swim for it, but Tex Law was ready for 'em.
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By Eric Ferreri, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.  Feb. 13--DURHAM -- A plan to bring 71 upscale homes to a 44-acre piece of southeastern Durham failed Monday night when county commissioners deadlocked on it.
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By Tom Coombe, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.  May 31--A Plainfield Township landfill has paid a $56,000 fine for letting litter escape from its boundaries.
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DURHAM, N.C., Aug. 31 -- Michael B. Nifong, the former Durham County district attorney, was held in criminal contempt of court Friday for lying to a judge when pursuing rape charges against three falsely accused Duke University lacrosse players.
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By The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.  Sep. 21--What started out as a simple dredging proposal to improve navigation at the base of Budd Inlet has turned into a costly need to clean up chemical contamination in the inlet.
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By Chris Bowman, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.  Feb. 27--Rancho Murieta's failure to expand its sewage treatment capacity to keep up with growth has brought a state fine of $200,000 against the eastern Sacramento County golf course community.
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By Jennifer Smith, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.  Dec. 8--A Plainview Water District lawsuit over the looming threat a fuel spill allegedly poses to drinking water can proceed even though the district's wells have yet to be contaminated, a State Supreme Court judge has ruled.
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By Chuck Thompson, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.  May 24--About 10,000 gallons of sewage overflowed from a manhole Tuesday at Healy Point Country Club, Freddie Wiggins, director of the Jones County Water and Sewer Department, said Wednesday.