Yuba City power plant fined

A natural-gas-fired power plant in Yuba City was fined for improper management of hazardous waste.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fined Calpine Corporation $13,500 for generating arsenic during wastewater treatment and failing to limit its release at the company’s 500-megawatt Sutter Energy Center, according to an EPA press release. The EPA found the plant to be in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act program—which requires hazardous materials be stored, handled and disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner—during a July 2009 inspection, potentially exposing the plant’s workers to the poison.

The facility has since installed a permanent barrier to minimize further releases of arsenic.