E.P. ice company to plead guilty to violating Clean Air Act

EAST PROVIDENCE – J.P. Lillis Enterprises Inc., doing business as Cape Cod Ice, is set to plead guilty to violating the Clean Air Act, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island Wednesday.

The company has agreed to pay a $90,000 fine, and to serve a term of three years of federal supervised release, and will, within 90 days of sentencing, engage a qualified ammonia-refrigeration consultant to conduct an audit.

The company was said to have repeatedly failed to implement a risk management plan to be executed in the event of an accidental release of anhydrous ammonia, the USAO said.

The company, a cold-storage warehouse and ice-manufacturing facility that stores over 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia in its facility on the banks of the Seekonk River, is in an industrial area near a residential area and is in the vicinity of an elementary school.

- Advertisement -

The company was assessed a civil penalty by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2012 for failing to implement a risk management plan, and has since been repeatedly found to contain equipment that is in need of repair to avoid a potential release of anhydrous ammonia.

The USAO said subsequent inspections by the EPA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the East Providence Fire Department found the existence of corrosion on ammonia-carrying pipes and on the facility’s high-pressure ammonia receiver. The inspections also identified the failure of corrosion-preventing insulation on the pipes, as well as inadequate testing and maintenance of the ammonia piping and receiver.

Cape Cod Ice has submitted reports to the East Providence Fire Department and to EPA indicating that it has taken steps to bring the facility into compliance, the USAO said.