CHICKASHA – A court hearing on an “emergency” application filed two years ago for a temporary injunction to prevent Chickasha businessman Brannan Bordwine from storing or disposing of supplies of volatile hand sanitizer has been rescheduled five times and is now set to be heard in Grady County District Court later this month.
The state Department of Environmental Quality filed the application in district court here on Nov. 18, 2022, and it was granted later that day, records show.
A hearing on the case was originally set for Dec. 1, 2022, but was rescheduled for April 11, 2023. And again, for Aug. 14, 2023. Then again, for Jan. 30, 2024. And once more, for June 20, 2024. And now for Dec. 17, 2024.
Bordwine was storing numerous pallets and totes of unsold, recalled, methanol-laced hand sanitizer at three locations in Grady County: two in Chickasha and one in Ninnekah. Five fires broke out at the three sites during an 11-month period between August 2022 and July 2023. It is unknown whether any of the product escaped incineration in those fires.
During one of the fires, on Aug. 7, 2022, the castiron lids on two manholes were blown off and the municipal sanitary sewer briefly caught fire from sanitizer that flowed into the line, state and local fire officials reported.
A permit is required for the storage and disposal of hazardous waste, and the DEQ deems the hand sanitizer to be hazardous waste.
The hand sanitizer is considered hazardous waste/material for two reasons, Erin Hatfield, spokesperson for the DEQ, told Southwest Ledger. “The material flashed and is considered hazardous due to ignitability. Also, a good portion of the hand sanitizer is actually recalled material (and not just expired).” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration “states that anything recalled is hazardous waste and must be disposed of properly.”
Neither Bordwine nor his companies has or had a DEQ permit to “treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste,” the agency informed Grady County District Judge Kory S. Kirkland.
In a response filed in December 2022, Bordwine denied the DEQ’s accusations and demanded that the agency “provide proof to support its … allegations.”
In addition to applying for the temporary injunction, the DEQ’s executive director, Scott Thompson, issued an administrative compliance order against Brannan Bordwine and his Bordwine Development company on Aug. 22, 2022.
Besides directing Bordwine to cease-and-desist his sanitizer disposal operations, Thompson assessed an administrative penalty of $6,653,850 – the largest cash penalty ever imposed by the agency.
Bordwine’s attorney, Peter Scimeca of Oklahoma City, said his client appealed the fine by requesting a hearing before an administrative law judge. So far as is known, Bordwine has not paid the contested fine and a hearing on the fine has still not been held.