The Environmental Protection Agency's investigation into waste management violations at the University will culminate with the release of a report next week.
The report will cite specific penalties for the violations that the agency discovered from inspections performed in September.
"The DEQ [Department of Environmental Quality] and the EPA want to meet with us to discuss the specifics about the violations and what they are going to do with us," said Ralph Allen, University director of environmental health and safety.
In September, inspectors from both the EPA and DEQ visited the University three times to investigate possible violations of waste management statutes that fell under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
The state-enforced RCRA makes sure that companies and other entities in the state abide by the specified regulations for "cradle to grave" management of wastes - from the time it is produced to the time of its disposal, said Katherine Hodgkins, director of the EPA's Office of Enforcement for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The University's labs produce over 500,000 pounds of waste annually, and it becomes a hazard if it is handled incorrectly.
As a result, the EPA checked to see that the labs collected, stored and disposed of it properly, according to the RCRA federal guidelines.
The guidelines "determine what chemicals are hazardous, and they make sure that the wastes are stored properly, held for a certain point of time and disposed of properly," Hodgkins said.
Now it remains uncertain what the University's penalties will be for violating the RCRA guidelines, and University officials said they would not speculate on the possible penalties.
"No one can guess on the report," University spokesperson Louise Dudley said. "It's hard to be substantive."
"We don't know what they're going to say," Allen said. "We're in limbo now."
Other schools, such as the University of Georgia, have been subject to similar investigations by the EPA.
Georgia was faced with a potential $2.62 million cleanup for disposing hazardous waste in a landfill that contaminated groundwater.
In 1995, Yale University paid a $69,000 fine and agreed to invest $279,000 in environmental programs after being cited for mishandling and mislabeling hazardous chemicals.
DEQ enforcement specialist Ed Liggett said DEQ had already released an executive compliance agreement earlier last month detailing a plan to observe waste management and disposal.
Because the University is considered a sister agency of DEQ, no penalties were levied, Liggett said.
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