Re: Paul's chrome plating in evans city Pa closing
Rich------
Plating is very expensive, especially for small shops if they are pre-treating their wastewater to federal and local requirements. If they are not and they are in a area with an unsophisticated regulatory program and they base their charges as if they were pre-treating, they can make a lot of profit until the local program "upgrades their sophistication".
I ran such a regulatory program, one of the if not the first EPA approved program in the United States, for 33 years in a jurisdiction that had many industrial users, including platers. In fact, I was charged with this program well before there were even EPA requirements for such a program. Our purpose for the program when it began was to ensure that our treatment plant could meet its discharge requirements since many industrial pollutants, especially the kinds discharged by platers, are not removed by municipal treatment plants. But, treatment plants do have requirements as to their discharge.
However, I used to tell my industrial customers that my staff and I enforced the regulations not primarily for the benefit of the environment but for the benefit of those companies that did comply with the requirements. To allow those that do not comply to continue to do so places those that do comply at a competitive disadvantage, in the case of platers a HUGE one.
To be clear, I am not saying that any of this applies to the plating shop in question as there are many possible reasons for their closure. But, I've seen the scenario I described occur many times.
Rich------
Plating is very expensive, especially for small shops if they are pre-treating their wastewater to federal and local requirements. If they are not and they are in a area with an unsophisticated regulatory program and they base their charges as if they were pre-treating, they can make a lot of profit until the local program "upgrades their sophistication".
I ran such a regulatory program, one of the if not the first EPA approved program in the United States, for 33 years in a jurisdiction that had many industrial users, including platers. In fact, I was charged with this program well before there were even EPA requirements for such a program. Our purpose for the program when it began was to ensure that our treatment plant could meet its discharge requirements since many industrial pollutants, especially the kinds discharged by platers, are not removed by municipal treatment plants. But, treatment plants do have requirements as to their discharge.
However, I used to tell my industrial customers that my staff and I enforced the regulations not primarily for the benefit of the environment but for the benefit of those companies that did comply with the requirements. To allow those that do not comply to continue to do so places those that do comply at a competitive disadvantage, in the case of platers a HUGE one.
To be clear, I am not saying that any of this applies to the plating shop in question as there are many possible reasons for their closure. But, I've seen the scenario I described occur many times.
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