EPA requests records on Freon handling

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, Jan. 4, 2001 | 11 a.m.

An internal audit that showed no wrongdoing on Clark County's part in a case of missing Freon didn't throw off the Environmental Protection Agency, which has requested copies of county records.

The EPA's San Francisco office has requested records detailing refrigerant acquisitions, purchases and repair invoices during a two-year period beginning Jan. 1, 1999. It also asked for records showing who handled the refrigerant.

EPA officials also want to see the names and addresses of reclamation facilities used and the amount and type of refrigerant sent to the facilities.

The December letter from Amy Zimpfer, EPA's acting director of the air division, says the county has 30 days to respond. It also says the county faces criminal penalties if it knowingly makes false statements or omissions.

Clark County spokesman Doug Bradford said the EPA is after records the county used in its internal audit of the Facilities Division in October. That audit was conducted after inventory forms surfaced listing about $300,000 worth of Freon extracted from county buildings in 1996 as missing.

The audit cited shoddy record-keeping but said the Freon was traced back and was properly disposed. The county could have faced a maximum penalty of $25,000 each day if it was out of compliance with record-keeping requirements.

"Internal controls do not exist, procedures are inconsistent and current inventory records are incomplete ... ," the October audit says.

Bradford said internal auditor Jeremiah Carroll came to his conclusions using what records the county could find and added that the county cannot produce all the records the EPA is requesting.

"We can only produce what we have been able to pull together so far," Bradford said. "Jerry (Carroll) did thorough research with all the records available; some we'll flat out admit we don't have."

Bradford said the county approached the EPA to ask for assistance after the audit and the federal agency has been helpful. He said the EPA's stiffest penalties are reserved for acts that damage the environment.

"Those serious violations would be Freon being released into the environment or left unattended in open containers in open areas," Bradford said. "We don't think we'd have fines levied against us. We went to them to make sure we had good quality control."

Failing to keep records on Freon is not a new problem for Clark County.

An August 1996 memo obtained by the Sun says that two years earlier a mock audit of the Facilities Refrigerant Team's division showed an inefficient record-keeping system.

"Their discovery identified deficiencies which were compiled into a critical, short term, action plan," the memo says. "These items became our immediate concern. These items were and have been addressed in parallel and priority by the Refrigerant Team."

The memo says on March 3, 1995, training was complete for a new software record-keeping system and storage of refrigerant. But as Carroll emphasized in his October audit, the tracking of refrigerant remains a problem.

"Logs detailing refrigerant use by unit and by leakage were not maintained by the county or by the vendor even after EPA regulations requiring such records were in effect," Carroll's report says.

Bradford said the county has been discussing regulation with the EPA to ensure it is following regulations.

"We consider this letter an information gathering tool," he said. "When the audit came out we were concerned; we wanted to make sure we were complying with everything and that's why we instituted a record-keeping system."