State Obtains Judgment In Air Pollution & Hazardous Waste Case Against Arkay

Attorney General Spitzer and Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner John P. Cahill today announced the settlement of two environmental lawsuits against the Arkay Packaging Corporation of Long Island. A Consent Judgment requires the Hauppauge company to pay the State $150,000 in penalties and costs resulting from alleged violations of State air pollution and hazardous waste management laws.

The agreement was entered today by State Supreme Court Justice Marquette Floyd. Arkay has also agreed to take various measures to clean up its facility as well as prevent further unlawful pollution.

"This settlement is an important victory for our environment," said Attorney General Spitzer. "Not only will Arkay pay a substantial penalty for past violations and clean up conditions at its facility, we have required that it take innovative measures to prevent air and hazardous waste pollution in the future."

DEC Commissioner John Cahill said:

"I am very pleased that Arkay Packaging has agreed to clean up the environmental hazards at its facility and take prudent steps to improve its environmental performance in the future. This was a serious case that DEC staff did an outstanding job of investigating and pursuing."

Under the settlement, Arkay will look into ways to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals at its plant and will perform an energy conservation audit to devise methods of saving energy at the facility, thereby reducing air pollution from the generation of electricity.

The company will be required to hire an outside auditor to perform quarterly environmental compliance audits for the next two years and yearly audits for three more years. Arkay has also agreed to employ a full-time environmental compliance officer and investigate whether any chemicals seeped into the ground below its plant and address any contamination properly.

The State filed suit against Arkay in July 1998 alleging that the company unlawfully installed and operated a printing press at its Hauppauge facility. The emissions from the press pose a threat to human health and contribute to urban smog.

In April of this year, following inspections of hazardous waste practices at the facility by the DEC, the State filed another lawsuit against Arkay alleging that the company had illegally generated and stored hazardous waste at its facility.

The case was handled for the Attorney General's office by Assistant Attorneys General Philip Bein and John Gibson. Scientist Jodi Feld provided technical assistance. DEC Attorneys Michael Lesser, Monica Conley, and Mary Carpentiere, and DEC Engineers Katherine Murphy and Arvin Goswami assisted in the lawsuits.