CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Seven companies in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County have faced penalties since 2012 for violations of hazardous waste guidelines, state records show.
Eyewitness News reviewed records of inspection reports by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that show Mecklenburg County accounted for almost half of the companies penalized in those three years.
One of those companies, Trex Properties, was cited three times in the summer of 2014 after inspectors found repeat violations, including storing more barrels of hazardous waste than they were permitted to store.
DENR fined Trex $11,516 for the violations but in January Trex signed an agreement with DENR reducing that penalty to $8,380.
State records show that several other companies in Charlotte were fined for hazardous waste violations in 2014.
In March, Emerald Carolina Chemical on Wilkinson Boulevard was penalized $70,000 for four violations.
In August, Coveris Advanced Coatings in Matthews was fined $32,000 -- that fine was later reduced to $9,700 -- and in October Reagents Holdings off South Boulevard was fined $25,000.
Many of the violations may appear minor -- like not closing a container or labeling a container with "Hazardous Waste," but the man who oversees inspections for the state says they are not.
"In these cases these are significant violations that merit that penalty process," said Jim Gilreath, a supervisor with DENR.
The potential problems when hazardous waste is not properly handled came into focus several years earlier on the site of the Trex Properties storage facility.
A previous owner, Detrex, was responsible for a hazardous waste spill on that site that is still raising concerns in the No Da community where it is located.
"It is definitely a concern," said Dr. Noah Manyikah, who moved his small church into a building near the old Detrex property and then learned about the spill.
He has been watching since as crews have monitored wells to see if the chemicals are leaching into the groundwater and heading toward a nearby creek and has kept in touch with the man with Detrex who first told him about the spill.
"I've told him whatever results you get you need to let us know," Manyikah said.
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