Wild Waves to pay over chemicals
SUSAN GORDON; The News Tribune
Federal regulators and the former owners of Wild Waves amusement park in Federal Way have agreed on a settlement for violations of federal Superfund chemical reporting requirements, Environmental Protection Agency officials said Monday.
Enchanted Parks Inc. will pay $7,000 to EPA and provide $14,000 in emergency response equipment, EPA officials said. South King Fire & Rescue is the designated beneficiary of the first aid gear, a so-called crash cart to be kept at Wild Waves.
Managers of the amusement park, which changed hands earlier this year, failed to submit required chemical inventory reports for large quantities of pool chemicals stored at the park between 2001 and 2004, said Suzanne Powers, an EPA enforcement coordinator.
Inspectors found the chemicals, sodium hypochlorite and hydrochloric acid, during a routine inspection in January 2006, she said. The deadline for filing inventory reports is more than a year after the end of the reporting period, so 2004 was the most recent violation, she said.
Federal law requires reporting of quantities exceeding 10,000 pounds of certain dangerous chemicals. Inventories must be reported to state and local emergency response officials and to local fire departments. “They thought they were exempt,” Powers said of Enchanted Parks.
Beth Ginsburg, who negotiated the settlement on behalf of Enchanted Parks, said she could not comment without authorization from the former Wild Waves owner. Six Flags, which did business as Enchanted Parks, announced in January the sale of Wild Waves to Florida-based PARC Management.
Susan Gordon: 253-597-8756
susan.gordon@thenewstribune.com
