What the Dollar Figure Doesn’t Count

Hannibal, Missouri sits on the western bank of the Mississippi River. Mark Twain grew up there. About 17,000 people still live there. And at 10107 Highway 79, inside a cement plant, a company called Green America Recycling has been burning hazardous waste as kiln fuel since the 1990s.

The name sounds like something you’d see on a reusable grocery bag. “Green America.” The word “recycling” in the title does real work: it frames what is, legally and physically, a hazardous waste incineration operation as something cleaner, something civic. The facility takes in waste from other industrial generators, blends it into liquid or solid fuel, and burns it in a rotary cement kiln. That is the business. The waste includes F-, K-, P-, and U-listed hazardous compounds, plus characteristic hazardous waste. These are not abstract bureaucratic categories. They represent chemicals toxic enough that federal law requires a permit just to touch them.

When EPA and Missouri inspectors showed up on February 15 and 16, 2023, they found five large roll-off containers, each the size of a dumpster, holding “Finish Feed” hazardous waste. All five were open. Not cracked. Not partially ajar. Open. The permit specifically states that containers holding hazardous waste “shall always be closed during storage, except when it is necessary to add or remove waste.” Nobody was adding or removing waste that day. The containers were simply sitting there, uncovered, in a facility that processes chemicals that can cause organ damage, cancer, and death at sufficient concentrations.

They also found a pump leaking barrier fluid in the liquid fuel tanker truck unloading area. The company’s own daily inspection reports for the entire preceding week, February 10 through 16, 2023, did not mention this leak once. Either the inspectors doing those daily checks didn’t notice, didn’t look, or didn’t write it down. The regulation exists precisely because equipment leaks in hazardous waste operations are how contamination spreads. The inspection log requirement is the early warning system. GAR’s system was off.

There were also two five-gallon white buckets sitting in a storage building west of the offices. Spent fluorescent lamps. The buckets were labeled “Universal Waste” and “Used Bulbs,” but not with the federally required phrase “Universal Waste – Lamp(s)” or “Waste Lamp(s)” or “Used Lamp(s).” Fluorescent lamps contain mercury. Mercury is a neurotoxin. The labeling requirement exists so that if someone who doesn’t know what they’re looking at encounters those buckets, the words on the side tell them exactly what kind of danger is inside. GAR’s labels didn’t do that.

Two roll-off containers were also found without accumulation start dates. That date is not paperwork for its own sake. It is how the regulatory system knows how long hazardous waste has been sitting in one place, since that determines when it must be moved. Without those dates, the timeline of exposure is invisible.

The people who work at this facility, all 77 of them, operate daily in an environment where these standards are supposed to be non-negotiable. The workers loading and unloading tanker trucks in that unloading area walked past a leaking pump for at least a week while the daily logs said everything was fine. The 17,000 people in Hannibal live downstream and downwind from a facility whose containers were open when the government came to check.

The settlement that resolved all of this came to $28,337. Split across all four violations, across the two days of confirmed inspection findings, that works out to roughly $7,084 per violation. Less than the cost of a used car. That is what the regulatory system decided the safety of Hannibal, Missouri is worth.

What the Documents Actually Say

These are direct quotes from Docket No. RCRA-07-2025-0014, filed with the EPA Region 7 Hearing Clerk on April 2, 2025. Nothing below is paraphrased.

“At the time of the inspection, the inspector observed five (5) 30-yard roll-off containers containing Finish Feed hazardous waste that were not closed.” Docket No. RCRA-07-2025-0014, Count 2, Paragraph 40

• This is the core physical violation. Five large-scale industrial containers, each 30 cubic yards in capacity, holding hazardous material were observed open during a compliance inspection. The permit requires them to always be closed except during active use.
• The term “Finish Feed” refers to hazardous waste blended and prepared to be burned as supplemental fuel in the cement kiln. This material was in a ready-to-use state, meaning it had been processed but left unsecured.

“At the time of the inspection, the inspector observed barrier fluid leaking from the pump in the liquid fuel tanker truck unloading area. Further review of documents entitled ‘Daily Inspection Report,’ ‘Liquid Fuel Storage/Blend Tanks & Containment Areas,’ and ‘Liquid Fuel Tanker Truck Unloading Area’ for February 10–16, 2023, did not identify the pump as leaking.” Docket No. RCRA-07-2025-0014, Count 3, Paragraph 45

• This quote proves that a physical leak was present and visible to the EPA inspector at the moment of inspection, but had gone unrecorded across seven consecutive days of the facility’s own internal inspection logs.
• Federal regulation at 40 C.F.R. § 264.1064(d) requires that when a leak is detected, the date of detection and every repair attempt must be logged in the facility’s operating record. No such entry existed.
• This is not ambiguous paperwork error. Either the company’s inspection process failed to detect an active leak in a hazardous liquid fuel area, or it was detected and not recorded. Both outcomes represent a breakdown of the compliance system the permit requires.

“Respondent: (b) neither admits nor denies the specific factual information stated herein.” Docket No. RCRA-07-2025-0014, Consent Agreement, Paragraph 51(b)

• This is the standard legal formula that allows a company to pay a penalty while creating zero public record of admitted wrongdoing. GAR pays $28,337 and walks away with no admission that any of the documented violations actually occurred.
• The company simultaneously “waives any right to contest the allegations” and “neither admits nor denies” them. It is designed to close the case without creating usable precedent or liability exposure in any future civil proceeding.

“Respondent certifies by the signing of this Consent Agreement and Final Order that to the best of its knowledge, it is presently in compliance with all requirements of RCRA.” Docket No. RCRA-07-2025-0014, Consent Agreement, Paragraph 70

• This certification is signed after the violations were documented. The company is certifying current compliance while simultaneously settling four counts of non-compliance. The phrase “to the best of its knowledge” provides a built-in caveat that limits the certification’s legal force.
• The EPA conditions the effect of the settlement on the “accuracy of Respondent’s representations,” meaning if this certification is later found to be false, the settlement can be revisited. No mechanism for verifying that certification is outlined in the order.

Who Pays the Real Cost

Public Health

GAR operates a facility that burns hazardous waste in a cement kiln, produces combustion byproducts, and stores toxic material on-site in industrial containers. The violations documented in February 2023 each represent a specific pathway through which hazardous exposure becomes more likely.

• Five 30-yard roll-off containers of “Finish Feed” hazardous waste were left open during storage. Open containers allow volatile organic compounds, particulates, and other hazardous constituents to become airborne. The 77 employees working at the facility are the first population in the exposure pathway.
• An active barrier fluid leak in the liquid fuel tanker truck unloading area went unrecorded for at least seven days. Barrier fluid in hazardous waste pumping systems can contain contaminated materials from the waste stream it pressurizes. An unlogged leak has no documented cleanup or containment record.
• Spent fluorescent lamps containing mercury were stored in containers without legally required labeling. Mercury is a neurotoxin with no safe level of exposure. Improper labeling increases the risk that workers or downstream handlers will not take appropriate precautions when handling or transporting those containers.
• Two roll-off containers lacked accumulation start dates, meaning there is no documented basis for determining how long those containers had been sitting in their observed state or whether they had already exceeded permitted storage durations.
• Hannibal, Missouri has a population of approximately 17,000 people. The facility is located at a fixed highway address within the city’s boundaries. Residents in the surrounding area are in the ambient air and groundwater exposure zone for any release from this facility.

Economic Inequality

The structure of this settlement encodes a well-documented pattern: large industrial operators receive penalty amounts calibrated far below statutory maximums, while the communities that host these facilities absorb the residual risk at no compensation.

• The statutory maximum penalty for violations occurring after November 2, 2015, is $121,275 per day per violation. Four violations were found. Even assessing one day’s fine per violation at maximum rates would produce a penalty of $485,100. EPA settled for $28,337, which is 5.8% of that figure.
• GAR employs 77 people. The company is affiliated with Continental Cement, as evidenced by the Certificate of Service showing GAR’s environmental contact uses a continentalcement.com email address. Continental Cement is a subsidiary of Summit Materials, a publicly traded company worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The $28,337 penalty represents a rounding error on any quarterly earnings report.
• The penalty is explicitly structured as non-deductible for federal, state, and local tax purposes (Paragraph 78 of the order). That provision exists to prevent companies from treating fines as a business expense. However, the non-deductibility of a $28,337 fine on a multi-million-dollar industrial operation is functionally meaningless as a deterrent.
• The settlement was filed in April 2025, more than two years after the February 2023 inspection. For two years, GAR operated without a final enforcement order. The community in Hannibal had no public record of these violations during that period.
• The consent agreement explicitly states the penalty “shall not constitute or be construed as a release from any claim” by outside parties (Paragraph 73). But private environmental litigation requires resources, legal expertise, and evidence that most Hannibal residents do not have access to. The theoretical right to sue does not translate into practical access to justice.

The Arithmetic of Accountability

Who to Watch. What to Do.

This case is closed as a federal enforcement matter, but the facility at 10107 Highway 79, Hannibal, Missouri remains operational. These are the entities with active jurisdiction and the people in specific documented roles.

People Named in the Order

• Mark Wenclawiak — Director Environmental, Cement Segment, Green America Recycling. His email domain (continentalcement.com) confirms the parent company connection. He received a copy of the final order.
• Brittany Barrientos — Attorney at Law, Stinson Law Firm, Kansas City, MO. GAR’s legal representative throughout this proceeding.
• David Cozad — Director, Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division, EPA Region 7. Signed the Consent Agreement on March 31, 2025.
• Jennifer Trotter — Office of Regional Counsel, EPA Region 7. Signed the Consent Agreement on March 31, 2025.
• Karina Borromeo — Regional Judicial Officer, EPA Region 7. Issued the Final Order on April 2, 2025.
• Kevin Snowden — RCRA Section Chemical Branch, EPA Region 7. The designated contact for compliance notifications under this order.

Watchlist: Regulatory Bodies

• EPA Region 7 (Lenexa, Kansas): The issuing authority for this consent order. Has the right to pursue up to $70,752 per day per violation if GAR violates the settlement terms. Any future violations at this facility fall under their jurisdiction first.
• Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR), Waste Management Program: Co-inspector on the February 2023 visit. Responsible for the state-level Part I permit under the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management rules. Chris Nagel (Director), Michael Parris (Compliance/Enforcement Chief), and Brandon Backus (Environmental Program Supervisor) all received copies of the final order.
• EPA Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division: The division that negotiated and signed this settlement. Their penalty calculus determines whether fines function as deterrents or as operating expenses.

Actions

• If you live in or near Hannibal, Missouri, contact MoDNR’s Waste Management Program directly to request the full compliance history for RCRA ID MOD054018288. State environmental records are generally public documents. You can reach MoDNR’s Environmental Services Program at (573) 751-3176.
• Connect with Missouri-based environmental justice organizations, including the Missouri Coalition for the Environment (moenvironment.org). They track industrial permitting decisions and can support residents seeking intervention in permit renewals or modifications.
• The consent order allows anyone to submit comments to the EPA during future permit proceedings. GAR’s current permits will require renewal again. Organized public comment during that window is one of the few formal mechanisms available to residents.
• Request the inspection report from the February 2023 joint EPA/MoDNR visit under the Freedom of Information Act. The settlement references the report but does not publish it. The inspection report contains the inspector’s field observations in full, which are not reproduced in the public consent order.
• Share this case with your local city council representative in Hannibal. Municipal officials can formally petition MoDNR to strengthen permit conditions or require additional public notification requirements when violations are found at facilities within city limits.