Stericycle's days in North Salt Lake are numbered.
Utah's Air Quality Board approved a record $2.3 million fine with the medical waste incinerating company Wednesday that ultimately will force the plant to move.
Regulators negotiated the fine to resolve allegations the waste processor violated numerous permit provisions at its controversial plant.
The settlement does not require Stericycle owners to acknowledge any wrongdoing, but it does obligate the Illinois-based company to relocate its Utah operations to Tooele County. If the company moves within three years of acquiring permits for a remote property on the western shores of the Great Salt Lake, state air quality watchdogs will waive half the fine.
"The settlement avoids further legal delays to ensure operations at the North Salt Lake facility cease as soon as possible," Harold Burge, a compliance manager with the Division of Air Quality (DAQ), told the board. "It's been a lot of hard work. This settlement is the best we are going to get without going to a judge."
The company's many critics urged air quality regulators to continue closely monitoring Stericycle's operations, which have since come under further investigation after a former employee alleged radioactive material has been illegally burned at the plant.
That employee, Richard Bates, identified himself this week and said he had worked at the company for five months.
But Stericycle spokeswoman Jennifer Koenig said Bates only worked for a temp agency that placed him at the plant for three weeks. Meanwhile, an investigation released by the Department of Environmental Quality last month could not confirm Bates' claims.
"While we are relieved to see a definitive action taken by the state, we are disappointed that Stericycle would be allowed to operate for at least three years in North Salt Lake and up to five years," said activist Alicia Connell, speaking on behalf of several groups. "The evidence is overwhelming that the incineration of medical waste is unnecessary."
DAQ documents report Stericycle began breaching emission limits in December 2011 and violations persisted for more than a year. But the state's notice of violation went much farther, alleging Stericycle failed to report the "exceedances" and rigged a stack test.
Stericycle formally contested the charges and the recent settlement concedes no wrongdoing, even as it cuts a seven-figure check to Utah.
"With this matter behind us, Stericycle can now fully focus on all of the steps necessary to relocate our North Salt Lake City facility, while continuing to provide an important and necessary service to the health care community without interruption," Koenig said in an e-mail.
The settlement requires Stericycle to shut down its current incinerator within three years of obtaining its permits for the Tooele plant, to be built on 40 acres on state trust land near Rowley.
Koenig said the company has received a conditional use permit for the new plant from Tooele County and recently filed an application with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality for a solid waste permit. Stericycle also is working on a state air quality permit application.
"We are willing to quickly move into the construction phase when those approvals are in place from the state," she said.
bmaffly@sltrib.com
