Mobile city officials have levied the maximum daily fine allowed under municipal code against Arc Terminals and its business partner, Sulfuric Acid Trading Company, for storing sulfuric acid in an above-ground tank on the city’s waterfront without the required approval.
A spokesman for Mayor Sandy Stimpson announced the penalty this week, saying the companies will be charged $298 for every day they have been out of compliance, a figure that stretches back to the initial delivery of the chemical and continues to accrue until the acid is removed from the property. “The city today notified the companies that they will be fined the maximum amount allowed for every day they have been in violation, dating back to the initial delivery,” city spokesman George Talbot said in a statement. “They also will be fined every day going forward until the sulfuric acid is removed from the site.”
The fines follow a City Council meeting earlier in the week during which Arc officials acknowledged that sulfuric acid had been sitting in a tank at the company’s terminal on Cochrane Causeway since February, months before the Mobile Planning Commission approved the storage in June. Council members were weighing an appeal of that Planning Commission approval when the timeline came to light. After hearing the admission, the council voted unanimously to reverse the approval altogether.
Clayton Curtis, Arc’s vice president of regulatory affairs, told reporters after the meeting that the company had not realized it needed separate approval to store sulfuric acid in a tank that had originally been permitted for petroleum storage. Curtis said Arc only became aware of the oversight after Sulfuric Acid Trading Company, its client, attempted to obtain a business license from the city. He said the company subsequently disclosed the issue to Planning Commission staff.
Doug Anderson, the attorney who represents the Planning Commission, disputed any suggestion that the commission had known about the early storage before granting its approval. He said the council meeting marked the first time Arc had publicly disclosed that the acid had been on site since February. “It was never told to the Planning Commission in my presence,” Anderson said, adding that if commissioners had known about the storage beforehand, inspectors would have been sent to the site.
Arc issued its own statement a day after the city announced the fines, saying that once it recognized approval was needed, the company sought and received sign-off from the Planning Commission. “Arc greatly values our long-term relationship with the City of Mobile, and we regret the breakdown in communication during the subsequent appeals process, which has led to this issue,” the company said, adding that it was “taking prompt action to ensure full compliance with the permit in question.”
City officials pushed back sharply on that characterization. Talbot confirmed the fines will apply retroactively from February, when the acid was first delivered, through June, when the Planning Commission initially approved its storage, and will resume for the period following the council’s reversal. He said the total amount owed will ultimately be determined in court. “Neither Arc Terminals nor its business partners have approval to store or transport sulfuric acid in the City of Mobile,” Talbot said. “By their own admission, the companies have been operating in violation of city law since February.”
Although Arc’s terminal sits on property zoned for heavy industry, city rules required a separate Planning Commission sign-off once the material stored in the tank changed from petroleum to sulfuric acid, a hazardous chemical that requires additional safety and handling review. Talbot said the city is also pursuing a temporary restraining order against Arc and its partner in an effort to force what he called “the immediate and safe removal of this hazardous chemical” from the site. “We are disappointed by the irresponsible and reckless behavior displayed by Arc and its partners,” he said. “Their disrespect for due process and the safety of our citizens is unacceptable and incongruent with the many responsible businesses operating in and around the Port of Mobile.”
Sulfuric Acid Trading Company could not be reached for comment, and Planning Commission Chairman Jay Watkins had not returned a call seeking comment as of this report. The dispute adds to what has already been a contentious few weeks over industrial chemical storage along Mobile’s working waterfront, as residents and city leaders alike press for clearer answers on how the arrangement went unapproved for so long.