Envirocare of Utah will continue receiving hazardous waste after company officials agreed to take steps to comply with Environmental Protection Agency rules.

On Oct. 15, EPA sent a letter to Envirocare giving the company 60 days to respond to a notice that it failed to bury mixed hazardous and radioactive waste in the one year required by federal rules."In this particular case, it was just one particular unit at the site" (that failed to comply), but that would essentially stop any hazardous waste from coming into the site," said Terry Brown, EPA coordinator of the off-site rules that affect what waste facilities may accept.

The Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality issued an order to comply and Envirocare agreed to bury the waste no later than April 30.

Last week the EPA consented to the agreement between the state and Envirocare and declared the storage site in compliance with EPA regulations.

"EPA has not reversed its determination that Envirocare was in violation" of the federal rules, the EPA wrote in a letter to Enviro- care, "merely that these violations will have been adequately addressed if Envirocare complies with the (state's) order."

Charles Judd, president of Envirocare, said in a news release Monday that the company will "continue to work with federal, state and local agencies," and that "we value constructive oversight of our operation by EPA and other agencies.

Last Tuesday Envirocare was fined $197,000 by the EPA for a long list of problems including such things as improper storage of waste, leaving too much residue in unloaded shipping containers, containers that leaked and had poorly fitting lids, cracks in a concrete storage pad and too much water in an evaporation tank.

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