While 620 workers ran three shifts a day inside Lincoln Industries’ 275,000-square-foot facility, federal inspectors found open drums of contaminated waste, unlabeled hazardous containers, and multiple waste streams the company had never even bothered to test for toxicity.

The Non-Financial Ledger: What the Fine Does Not Cover

When EPA inspectors walked into Lincoln Industries’ Lincoln, Nebraska facility on November 28, 2023, they did not find a single isolated slip. They found a systemic pattern: hazardous waste containers left open in the Coating Lines area, in the QC Lab, in Line 202, in Line 14, in Line 210, and in the 90-Day Hazardous Waste Accumulation area itself. These were not warehouse accidents. These were conditions the workforce operated inside every single day across three back-to-back eight-hour shifts.

The workers at the center of this story are not named in the EPA’s order. They are the 620 full-time employees who showed up, punched in, and did their jobs in proximity to waste that their employer had not classified, had not contained, and had not labeled. The contaminated paper wipes and nitrile gloves found in open trash cans and open drums across multiple production lines represent a daily reality those workers lived. The company never determined whether that waste was hazardous. They just left it open in the spaces where people worked.

There is something specific and infuriating about the unlabeled containers. Federal law requires that any container holding hazardous waste carry the words “Hazardous Waste” on its surface. That requirement exists for one reason: so that any person who approaches that container, including a maintenance worker, a new hire, a cleaner, or an emergency responder, knows what they are dealing with. Lincoln Industries failed that requirement across at least seven separate containers in at least five different areas of the facility. Every day those containers went unlabeled, every worker who walked past them was denied information they had a legal right to possess.

Then there is the contingency plan failure. EPA regulations require that facilities handling hazardous waste submit their emergency response plan to local police departments, fire departments, hospitals, and emergency response teams. Lincoln Industries had not done this. That is not a paperwork error. That is a failure that means: if something had gone wrong inside that facility, the first responders arriving on scene would have done so without knowing what chemicals they were walking into, what protective measures to take, or what medical protocols to follow for the workers inside. The risk was not hypothetical. It was structural.

By the Numbers: Every Violation, Counted

Legal Receipts: The EPA’s Own Words

These are direct, verbatim statements from the EPA’s Consent Agreement and Final Order. Read them slowly.

“At the time of the Inspection, the Inspector determined that Respondent was generating the following solid waste streams but for which Respondent had not conducted a determination as to whether the waste was hazardous: paint booth filters in an open 55-gallon drum… contaminated paper wipes and nitrile gloves in an open 45-gallon trash can… contaminated paper wipes and nitrile gloves in an open 55-gallon drum… contaminated paper wipes and nitrile gloves in an open 45-gallon trash can… [and] contaminated paper wipes and nitrile gloves in two open 55-gallon drums.” EPA Consent Agreement and Final Order, Count 1, Paragraph 28 — Failure to Conduct Hazardous Waste Determinations

“Because Respondent failed to comply with the generator requirements… Respondent was not authorized to accumulate hazardous waste at its facility for any length of time and, therefore, was operating a hazardous waste storage facility without a permit in violation of Section 3005 of RCRA.” EPA Consent Agreement and Final Order, Count 2, Paragraph 51 — Operating Without a Permit

“During the Inspection, the Inspector observed that the Facility had not submitted a current copy of its contingency plan to the emergency responders required under 40 C.F.R. § 265.53(b).” EPA Consent Agreement and Final Order, Count 2, Paragraph 43 — Failure to Submit Contingency Plan to Local Agencies

“During the Inspection, the Inspector observed hazardous waste that had not been containerized in the following locations of the Facility: in the ’90-Day Hazardous Waste Accumulation’ area; within the ‘Plating Line 31’ area; within the ‘Plating Line 34’ area; and within the ‘Line 202’ area.” EPA Consent Agreement and Final Order, Count 2, Paragraph 45 — Failure to Containerize Hazardous Waste

“EPA reserves the right to enforce the terms and conditions of this Consent Agreement and Final Order… and to seek penalties against Respondent in an amount not to exceed Seventy Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty-Two Dollars ($70,752 — roughly the annual salary of a Nebraska factory worker) per day, per violation.” EPA Consent Agreement and Final Order, Paragraph 72 — Reservation of Rights

Societal Impact: Who Pays the Real Price

Public Health: 620 Workers, Zero Warning Labels

The most immediate public health dimension of this case sits directly inside the facility walls. Lincoln Industries employed approximately 620 full-time workers running three eight-hour shifts per day across a 275,000-square-foot manufacturing operation. Those workers shared space with multiple open containers of contaminated waste, including paint booth filters and gloves soaked in unknown chemical residues, that the company had never tested for hazardous properties.

Federal hazardous waste law requires the “Hazardous Waste” label for a practical reason: inhalation exposure, skin contact, and ingestion risks from industrial waste vary enormously depending on what chemicals are present. A worker who approaches an unlabeled open drum cannot make an informed decision about protection. Lincoln Industries removed that decision from its employees entirely by failing to classify the waste and failing to label the containers holding it.

The open containers found in the QC Lab, Coating Lines, Line 202, Line 14, and Line 210 were not storage anomalies. They were operating conditions. Workers on the line, lab technicians, and maintenance staff all moved through spaces where hazardous materials sat in open drums and open trash cans. The EPA’s inspection documented this across at least five distinct production areas. The question of what those workers were inhaling or touching over months or years preceding the November 2023 inspection is one the settlement agreement does not answer.

The contingency plan failure adds another layer. If a fire, spill, or chemical release had occurred inside this facility, local fire departments, hospitals, and emergency medical teams would have arrived without the hazard information they are legally required to receive. That information exists precisely to protect both responders and the surrounding community from secondary exposure. Lincoln Industries withheld it from every agency that might have needed it in an emergency.

Economic Inequality: A Fine That Costs Nothing

Lincoln Industries agreed to pay $40,957 (roughly two months of rent for a single working family in Nebraska, or about what a starting factory worker earns in a year) to settle federal hazardous waste violations covering three separate counts and dozens of documented failures across a 275,000-square-foot industrial operation employing 620 people. That figure represents the full resolution of the company’s civil penalty liability for everything the EPA found.

The maximum statutory penalty available under the law for violations occurring after November 2, 2015 is $124,426 per day, per violation. Lincoln Industries paid a fraction of what a single day of a single violation could have cost under the law. The company also negotiated the penalty down from a much higher potential exposure. The EPA explicitly reserved the right to seek $70,752 per day per violation if Lincoln Industries violates the terms of the settlement going forward — but that threat only activates if the company fails to comply with the order it just signed.

The economic asymmetry here is not subtle. The workers who absorbed the daily risk of open, unlabeled hazardous waste containers are not parties to this agreement. They receive no portion of the $40,957. They have no legal standing in this administrative settlement. The company certifies it is “presently in compliance” and moves on. The penalty is not tax-deductible, according to the order — but for a manufacturing operation of this scale, $40,957 is the kind of number that disappears into an operating budget without a trace.

The Cost of “Compliance”

What Now: Who to Watch and What to Demand

What You Can Do Right Now

If you work at or near this facility: contact the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy directly at ndeq.epainspections@nebraska.gov. Workers have a right to know what hazardous materials they are exposed to under federal law, and you have the right to file an OSHA complaint anonymously if you believe workplace safety rules are being violated.

If you live in Lincoln, Nebraska: your local fire department was not receiving Lincoln Industries’ hazard contingency plan. Ask your city council representative whether local emergency services are now in receipt of that plan, and demand confirmation in writing.

For everyone else: the single most powerful thing ordinary people can do in cases like this is make noise. Share this story with your union, your coworkers, and your neighbors. Demand that your elected representatives fully fund EPA enforcement so that inspections happen more often and penalties carry actual weight. Support mutual aid networks and worker safety organizations in your community. A $40,957 fine does not protect 620 workers. Organized workers protecting each other does.