Unalaska, AK – Trident Seafoods will pay more than $112,000 for not reporting large quantities of hazardous chemicals to the Environmental Protection Agency. The company violated the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act by not telling local emergency response teams that they had large quantities of ammonia, a hazardous chemical, at processing plants in Akutan, Kodiak, Petersburg, and Seattle. EPA public affairs specialist Tony Brown said this endangered the surrounding communities.

"And it's important because if there's a mishap or something happens you want to make sure that the response teams, in this case your fire departments and other ones, are aware that this company has over ten thousand or other amounts of ammonia at their facilities," he explained. "If they have to respond to a fire or a leak or something that could happen, then the response teams know what they're dealing with."

Exposure to large quantities of ammonia can cause respiratory problems and eye irritations and the chemical is highly explosive. The company reportedly stored 25,000 pounds in Kodiak, 80,000 in Akutan, 1,400 pounds in Petersburg, and 19,500 in Seattle without reporting them in 2006.

Trident will pay a $61,000 penalty to the federal government and will fund supplemental environmental projects: $23,000 on emergency response equipment for the Kodiak fire department $28,000 on equipment for the Akutan volunteer fire department.

EPA assistant regional council Stephanie Mairs said this is a common violation and though Trident is paying a significant penalty, it is not unusually large. Mairs said the company does not have any previous violations nor do they admit guilt in this instance.

"They are neither admitting or denying the factual allegations. Those are just the EPA's allegations. They are just agreeing to pay a certain amount of money to the treasury and to buy equipment for the fire departments."

Trident did not respond to phone calls for comments.