Atlantic Fish’s Ammonia Hazard on Gloucester Harbor

📎 Source Note: Transparency is essential in journalism. The facts and figures presented in this article are derived directly from the legal filings in this case. A copy of which can be found at the bottom of this article. We encourage readers to review the primary source document for themselves.

TL;DR:
Federal regulators from the EPA claim that NSD Seafood Inc. (doing business as Atlantic Fish & Seafood), Gloucester Cold Storage Inc., and NSDJ Real Estate LLC ran a seafood plant and cold storage warehouse on Gloucester’s Inner Harbor with more than four tons of highly dangerous anhydrous ammonia while allowing multiple known safety hazards to persist for years.

The facility sits in a dense residential neighborhood within half a mile of hundreds of homes, restaurants, and other businesses, and within a quarter mile of an elementary school and houses of worship.

EPA inspectors documented compromised insulation on ammonia pipes and valves, obstructed machinery rooms used as storage, a missing emergency ventilation switch, and an unlabeled emergency shutoff valve that could slow efforts to stop a toxic release.

From at least June 1, 2019 through September 30, 2023, the companies failed to design and maintain a safe facility and failed to minimize the consequences of an accidental release, in violation of the Clean Air Act’s general safety duty for extremely hazardous substances.

The companies agreed to a $25,000 civil penalty and a set of safety upgrades and community projects, while neither admitting nor denying the specific factual allegations.

The scandal exposes a deeper problem: a system that lets evil corporations store lethal chemicals in working-class neighborhoods while treating serious safety lapses as a negotiable cost of doing business.

Keep reading for the details of what went wrong inside this plant, how regulators responded, and what this says about corporate power and public safety under neoliberal capitalism.

Inside the Allegations: Corporate Misconduct and Corporate Social Responsibility Failure

At the heart of this case is a simple fact with enormous stakes. The Gloucester facility used two ammonia refrigeration systems that held about 1,543 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on the Atlantic Fish & Seafood side and about 7,075 pounds on the Gloucester Cold Storage side… more than 8,600 pounds of a gas so corrosive that exposure at 300 parts per million is “immediately dangerous to life and health.”

The facility sits on Gloucester’s Inner Harbor in a heavily populated residential area. It is within half a mile of hundreds of homes, restaurants, and other businesses, and within a quarter mile of an elementary school and at least two houses of worship.

EPA alleges that for more than four years, the owners and operators failed in their basic legal duty to identify hazards, keep the facility safe, and reduce the impact of any accidental release. The inspection uncovered multiple “potentially dangerous conditions” in both refrigeration systems, each tied to a clear path to harm for workers, neighbors, and first responders.

Timeline of What Went Wrong

Date / Period	Event	What Went Wrong or What It Revealed
At least June 1, 2019 – September 30, 2023	Period of violations	EPA alleges the companies failed to design and maintain a safe facility and failed to minimize the consequences of any accidental release during this multi-year span.
September 15, 2022	EPA on-site inspection	Inspectors toured the perimeter, roof, machinery rooms, cold storage areas, and chemical storage, and identified several potentially dangerous conditions in both ammonia systems.
2019–2023	Ongoing operation near homes and a school	Throughout the alleged violation period, the facility stored thousands of pounds of anhydrous ammonia in a dense residential area near an elementary school and houses of worship.
Effective Date of settlement (2024)	Companies certify corrections	Respondents certify that they have corrected the violations alleged, with some additional compliance measures still underway.
Within 4 months of the order	Deadline for Fire Department gas detector project	Companies must provide the Gloucester Fire Department with a suite of portable gas detectors, calibration gases, and a three-year maintenance contract to improve response to ammonia and other toxic releases.
Within 6 months of the order	Deadline to replace piping and insulation	Companies must replace piping and insulation in the cold storage area, directly addressing one of the hazards tied to corrosion and potential ammonia leaks.
Within 9 months of the order	Deadline for pump replacement project	Companies must replace two mechanically sealed ammonia pumps with sealless pumps at a quoted cost of about $108,500 to remove a potential point of failure that can lead to an ammonia release.

This timeline shows a long period of alleged unsafe operation, a single inspection that finally forced systemic changes, and a settlement that asks the company to upgrade equipment and support local emergency responders after regulators documented the risks.

What Inspectors Found: A Facility That Turned Public Health into a Gamble

Anhydrous Ammonia and Public Health

Anhydrous ammonia is a clear, colorless gas with a sharp odor. The EPA’s document referenced to write this article explains that:

It is corrosive to the skin, eyes, and lungs.
Inhalation can cause burns to the respiratory tract, shortness of breath, chest pain, pulmonary edema, and pneumonia.
Ammonia vapors may be fatal if inhaled.
Exposure at 300 parts per million is described as immediately dangerous to life and health.

Ammonia gas is generally treated as non-flammable, yet it burns at certain concentrations and can explode if released in an enclosed space with an ignition source or if a vessel containing the liquid is exposed to fire. The fire hazard increases around oil and other combustible materials.

Storing thousands of pounds of this substance in a building next to homes and a school places the community at real risk. Regulators expect owners of such facilities to implement all feasible measures to reduce the threat of death, serious injury, or major property damage.

Key Dangerous Conditions Inside the Plant

EPA’s inspection and follow-up review produced a chart of hazardous conditions in Appendix A of the attached down below EPA document. Several stand out as especially serious examples of failed corporate social responsibility and corporate ethics.

1. Compromised Insulation and Ice on Ammonia Piping

The inspection found compromised insulation and ice buildup on ammonia piping and valves in several locations, including the first and third floor cold storage rooms and the machinery room on the cold-storage side.

A vapor barrier and insulation are supposed to keep moisture away from metal surfaces.
Breached insulation allows moisture to sit against pipes and vessels, driving corrosion.
Corroded pipes and vessels can break or fail under pressure, causing an ammonia release.
Ice buildup can interfere with shutoff valves and other emergency controls.

Industry standards call for regular inspection and replacement of degraded insulation and vapor barriers, and for coatings to be applied to exposed metal before new insulation goes on.

The EPA uses those standards to show that the hazard is recognized across the industry and that practical fixes exist.

2. Machinery Room Used as a Storage Closet

Inspectors found that the cold-storage machinery room was being used to store auxiliary materials that blocked clear access to refrigeration equipment.

Obstructions made it harder to reach machinery for inspection, maintenance, and service.
Clutter could slow emergency shutdown in the middle of an ammonia leak.

Industry guidance for ammonia systems calls for a clear and unobstructed approach to machinery and enough space for crews to escape quickly in an emergency.

Turning a critical safety space into a storage area is a classic cost-cutting move. It saves floor space in the short term and shifts risk onto the workers who must navigate obstacles when seconds matter.

3. No Emergency Ventilation Switch Outside the Machinery Room

EPA recorded that the facility lacked an emergency ventilation switch outside the Atlantic Fish machinery room door!

Workers and firefighters need to be able to kill compressors and start emergency ventilation from a safe location outside a room that may be filled with toxic gas. Industry practice calls for a clearly labeled emergency shutoff switch with a tamper-resistant cover outside and adjacent to the machinery room door, controlling compressors, pumps, and certain valves.

A missing switch forces responders to enter the danger zone before they can try to control the release. That design choice increases exposure for anyone who runs toward the problem to protect others.

4. Unlabeled Emergency “King Valve”

The emergency “king valve” in the Atlantic Fish machinery room was not labeled.

The king valve can quickly shut off ammonia flow from the receiver to the rest of the system.
Any delay in locating and using that valve can keep a release going longer, endangering workers, first responders, and people off-site.

Industry standards expect critical emergency valves in systems of this size to be clearly and uniquely identified at the valve itself and inspected regularly to ensure labeling remains legible.

Leaving a key emergency control unlabeled in a high-hazard facility demonstrates a deep failure of corporate accountability. It creates a situation where a worker or firefighter might stand in a cloud of toxic gas, searching for the right handle.

How These Failures Add Up

EPA ties these conditions to specific legal violations under the Clean Air Act’s General Duty Clause, which requires owners and operators of facilities that handle extremely hazardous substances to:

Identify hazards using appropriate assessment techniques.
Design and maintain a safe facility with steps necessary to prevent releases.
Minimize the consequences of any accidental releases that occur.

The agency alleges that from at least June 1, 2019 through September 30, 2023, the companies failed both to maintain a safe facility and to minimize the consequences of an accidental release, based on the numerous hazards documented in Appendix A of the down there documentation.

In plain terms: these are not obscure technical oversights. They are basic safety protections that the ammonia refrigeration industry itself recognizes as necessary to keep people from dying.

Regulatory Capture, Loopholes, and Neoliberal Capitalism in Action

The case sits within a broader system shaped by neoliberal capitalism. Modern environmental regulation often relies on broad “general duties” and industry standards rather than strict, prescriptive rules for every scenario. Companies are expected to internalize those standards voluntarily and build safety into their operations.

The Enforcement Model

Here, enforcement followed a familiar pattern:

Self-policing on paper. The law expects owners and operators to identify hazards and adopt feasible controls, drawing on industry codes and guidance.
A rare inspection. EPA conducted a single documented inspection on September 15, 2022 and then reviewed additional information provided by the companies.
Findings of multiple hazards. Inspectors found conditions that could lead to or worsen an ammonia release, from compromised insulation and blocked access to missing emergency controls and unlabeled valves.
A negotiated settlement. EPA and the Department of Justice agreed on an administrative penalty and a set of compliance and supplemental projects.
No admission of specific facts. The companies admit EPA’s jurisdiction and agree to the penalty and obligations, while explicitly neither admitting nor denying the specific factual allegations.

This framework allows corporations to treat full compliance as optional until an inspection creates legal exposure. The settlement then balances a modest penalty with investments that can be framed as corporate social responsibility, without direct personal consequences for executives.

In political terms, this is how regulatory capture often looks in a neoliberal economy:

Lawmakers set high maximum penalties on paper, yet agencies use wide discretion and settle for far smaller amounts. Here, federal rules allow fines up to $57,617 per day per violation, while the companies will pay $25,000 total in civil penalties for multi-year alleged violations involving an extremely hazardous chemical near a school and residential neighborhood.
Companies can move on by funding improvements and local projects, while the underlying profit structure that made risk-taking attractive stays intact.

Profit-Maximization at All Costs: Safety as Overhead

The pattern of failures lines up with the logic of profit-maximization under late-stage capitalism are seen here.

Each documented hazard looks like a cost pushed off the balance sheet:

Neglected insulation and corrosion control postpone maintenance spending and allow equipment to run until it fails.
Using machinery rooms as storage squeezes more utility out of every square foot of industrial real estate.
Skipping or delaying emergency upgrades such as external ventilation switches or clear valve labeling saves time, engineering work, and capital.

The legal framework is supposed to prevent this. Section 112(r)(1) of the Clean Air Act sets a general duty for owners and operators to implement feasible measures to reduce the threat of death, serious injury, or significant property damage. Industry standards cited by EPA show that these hazards are recognized and that remedies—from proper labeling to regular insulation inspection—are well-known.

When a company carries on for years without these protections, it exposes a core feature of neoliberal capitalism:

The system rewards the deferral of safety spending until regulators intervene.
Communities and workers carry the risk in the meantime, especially in neighborhoods where residents have limited political and economic power.

Economic Fallout and Public Costs

The Cost of Safety vs the Price of Violations

The companies agreed to a $25,000 civil penalty.
They will spend approximately $20,500 to equip the Gloucester Fire Department with twelve portable gas detectors, calibration gas, and a three-year maintenance and service contract.
They will spend an estimated $108,500 to replace two mechanically sealed ammonia pumps with sealless pumps that remove a potential point of failure that can lead to an ammonia release.
They must also replace piping and insulation in the cold storage area, addressing previously identified hazards.

In total, the ordered upgrades and projects represent several times the cash penalty. The money goes toward safety measures that directly benefit workers, first responders, and the surrounding community. Yet the spending arrives only after regulators document problems and negotiate a settlement.

From a systemic perspective, this is how capitalism often monetizes harm.

An evil company operates with risky conditions for years, extracting value from infrastructure that does not meet the safety standard implied by the law and industry practice. Once caught, it pays a manageable sum, upgrades equipment, and funds local emergency capacity—costs that could have been built into the business model from the start.

Environmental and Public Health Impact: Corporate Pollution in a Harbor Community

The danger in this case stems from what could happen in the event of a significant ammonia release from corroded pipes, obstructed machinery rooms, or poorly labeled emergency equipment.

The facility’s location deepens that risk. It sits in a densely populated residential area with hundreds of homes, restaurants, and other businesses within half a mile, and an elementary school and houses of worship within a quarter mile.

In a serious release, a toxic cloud could sweep across streets where children walk to school, where residents attend religious services, or where workers staff nearby shops and restaurants. Ammonia vapors may be fatal if inhaled, with severe respiratory damage and burns possible at lower exposures.

The settlement acknowledges this reality in the design of the supplemental projects. One project aims explicitly to “enhance the chemical spill response capabilities, including those for an ammonia release, for local first responders.”

Another project is described as going beyond industry standards to eliminate a potential point of failure in the ammonia system.

The community becomes safer because of these upgrades, yet only after living for years next to a high-hazard operation that federal regulators now say fell short of its general duty to prevent and mitigate accidental releases.

Legal Minimalism: Doing Just Enough to Stay Plausibly Legal

The General Duty Clause does not list exact equipment or step-by-step requirements. It sets broad responsibilities and ties them to industry standards and “feasible means” of hazard reduction.

This design allows companies to operate with what might be called legal minimalism—meeting the bare visible threshold until a specific hazard is called out by regulators. The Gloucester case shows that:

A facility can run for years in a dense neighborhood with compromised insulation, blocked machinery rooms, missing emergency switches, and unlabeled critical valves.
The company can then certify that it has corrected the violations and is now in compliance, once enforcement pressure arrives.

Under neoliberal capitalism, this pattern is standard. The law sets a flexible floor. Corporations test the limits of that floor until an inspection, complaint, or accident forces change. Compliance becomes a brand asset rather than a moral baseline, and enforcement actions become part of reputation management.

How Capitalism Exploits Delay: The Strategic Use of Time

The alleged violations stretch from at least mid-2019 through late 2023. During that period, the facility continued operating near homes and a school with thousands of pounds of hazardous ammonia on site.

Under a profit-driven model, time itself becomes a tool:

Every year that risky equipment runs without major investment protects cash flow.
Every month without inspection maintains flexibility to treat safety upgrades as discretionary.
Enforcement that arrives years after hazards arise cannot erase the risk borne by workers and residents in the interim.

When regulators finally act, the settlement rarely compensates the community for those years of exposure to potential catastrophe. It simply attempts to lower risk going forward.

Pathways for Reform & Community Advocacy

I would like to point towards several changes that could better align corporate behavior with public safety:

Turn general duties into concrete requirements. When industry standards clearly identify critical controls (like external emergency switches, clear machinery access, and labeled emergency valves) those controls can become explicit, enforceable obligations for facilities handling extremely hazardous substances.
Raise real-world penalties. Agencies like the EPA already have authority to seek high daily penalties. Using that authority more aggressively in cases involving dense neighborhoods and schools would change the cost-benefit calculus of deferred safety investments.
Increase inspection frequency for high-hazard facilities. Facilities with large quantities of extremely hazardous substances in residential areas deserve regular, unannounced inspections focused on structural integrity, emergency access, and labeling.
Strengthen community right-to-know and organizing power. Residents living near such plants benefit when detailed hazard information and enforcement histories are accessible and when local governments can demand stronger conditions as part of land-use or permitting decisions.
Protect and reward whistleblowers. Workers often see failing insulation, blocked machinery rooms, and missing emergency labels long before regulators visit. Robust legal and cultural support for reporting those hazards is a critical counterweight to corporate secrecy and fear of retaliation.

These steps would push the system away from legal minimalism and toward a model in which safety is treated as a non-negotiable cost of doing business in a community.

Atlantic Fish CAFO signed anhydrous ammonia release Download

The EPA’s documentation used to write this article can be found at this link: https://yosemite.epa.gov/OA/RHC/EPAAdmin.nsf/Filings/21C92B397F3C9E7185258B19007E658A/$File/Atlantic%20Fish%20CAFO%20signed.pdf

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NOTE:

This website is facing massive amounts of headwind trying to procure the lawsuits relating to corporate misconduct. We are being pimp-slapped by a quadruple whammy:

The Trump regime's reversal of the laws & regulations meant to protect us is making it so victims are no longer filing lawsuits for shit which was previously illegal.
Donald Trump's defunding of regulatory agencies led to the frequency of enforcement actions severely decreasing. What's more, the quality of the enforcement actions has also plummeted.
The GOP's insistence on cutting the healthcare funding for millions of Americans in order to give their billionaire donors additional tax cuts has recently shut the government down. This government shut down has also impacted the aforementioned defunded agencies capabilities to crack down on evil-doers. Donald Trump has since threatened to make these agency shutdowns permanent on account of them being "democrat agencies".
My access to the LexisNexis legal research platform got revoked. This isn't related to Trump or anything, but it still hurt as I'm being forced to scrounge around public sources to find legal documents now. Sadge.

All four of these factors are severely limiting my ability to access stories of corporate misconduct.

Due to this, I have temporarily decreased the amount of articles published everyday from 5 down to 3, and I will also be publishing articles from previous years as I was fortunate enough to download a butt load of EPA documents back in 2022 and 2023 to make YouTube videos with.... This also means that you'll be seeing many more environmental violation stories going forward :3

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

Aleeia (owner and publisher of www.evilcorporations.com)

Also, can we talk about how ICE has a $170 billion annual budget, while the EPA-- which protects the air we breathe and water we drink-- barely clocks $4 billion? Just something to think about....