American Velvet Company; Stonington, Connecticut

Stonington, Connecticut | 1988-May-19

Initial Notification: NOAA/OMA was notified of the incident on May 19, 1988, by the Coast Guard COTP, New Haven, and was requested to evaluate the effluent chemical evaluation reports performed by Niantic Envirolab Incorporated and Controls for Environmental Pollution, Inc. These studies were conducted to determine the amount of formaldehyde actually being released into the environment by American Velvet, and whether this amount exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) reportable quantity. The reports show formaldehyde concentrations of 2 milligrams per liter. Given the daily plant effluent discharge of approximately 50,000 gallons per day, this means that about 0.4 pounds of formaldehyde per day were entering the waste treatment plant. NOAA advised the Coast Guard that this release did not constitute a high environmental risk and did not exceed EPA's reportable quantity. USCG district 1.