The state’s environmental regulator has fined a Millersburg titanium casting foundry nearly $60,000 for storing waste acid in a leaky tank, then shipping that waste without notice, all while failing to determine how corrosive the waste was.

Managers at Ti Squared Technologies were “reckless” when they didn’t check whether water running off of chemically etched metal parts contained enough nitric and hydrofluoric acid to qualify as hazardous waste, according to the Oregon Department of Environment Quality.

And again they were “reckless” when they didn’t check whether the pair of 6,000-gallon tanks under the floor at the titanium foundry could withstand the acid runoff.

“Respondent consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that it would violate hazardous waste requirements,” staff said in a notice of civil penalty and order, dated June 6.

An inspector in August 2023 found connections between pipes and valves leaking. Waste saturated a spill diaper under one tank, seeping onto the floor of a concrete basin dubbed the pit.

The inspector near the other tank found a pipe apparently encrusted with a white residue, like dried acid. Yet a third pipe appeared to leak, according to DEQ.

“There was a rag wrapped in a butterfly pattern around it to capture leaks,” compliance staff wrote.

The company’s environment, health and safety compliance officer said by phone Monday that Ti Squared appealed all citations “right away.”

“We disagreed with the bulk of that information,” George Rau said.

Rau wouldn’t address the state’s corrections because the environmental department hasn’t ruled on Ti Squared’s appeal, he said. But operations did not shut down despite orders to stop using two large storage tanks.

“Our process didn’t need to change during this appeal,” Rau said.

The company, which founds titanium parts for the aerospace and surgical/medical devices, installed the tanks by June 2, 2021, more than two years before the inspection and after the department provided guidance on their construction.

But no professional engineer had provided written assessments, certifying that the tanks were free of broken welds, cracks, corrosion, punctures or scraped protective coatings — or that Ti Squared had adequately installed the tanks, according to the state agency.

Oregon fined Ti Squared $33,003 for failing to obtain the assessments.

Under Oregon law, anyone storing materials like acid, caustic bases or volatile materials must mark or label containers to warn they contain hazardous waste.

Ti Squared had labeled one of its tanks the spill tank, serving as backup, and called the other the “spent acid tank.”

Department staff ordered Ti Squared in the penalty notice to take the tanks offline until an engineer could verify in writing that the tanks and concrete pit can adequately store acid.

Oregon permits relatively few businesses to output more than 1 ton of hazardous waste each year, 198 according to state records. And 16 of those operate in the mid-Willamette Valley, including Ti Squared.

“Respondent is a large quantity generator with environmental compliance staff that is experienced in hazardous waste management,” staff said in the notice of civil penalty and order.

Scrubbers are supposed to capture acid-imbued water where it drains from a rinse rack, and from where Ti Squared etches and mills titanium castings, neutralizing that water before sending it to the municipal sewer.

No one had determined how hazardous the waste draining into the acid tanks or the scrubbers, an $11,145 fine.

And in January 2022, Ti Squared shipped 4,400 gallons of acidic liquid waste to a disposal site in Arlington, Oregon without determining the waste’s toxicity. The company didn’t produce a notice to the landfill about whether the waste had been treated, another state law violation and a $13,200 fine, totaling $57,348.

But the company had recorded other one-time notices to landfill operators.

“So it was aware of the requirement,” department staffers said in the notice.

Ti Squared started in the mid-1990s in Sweet Home. Like other titanium manufacturers in Linn County, the company produces parts, including some to fulfill U.S. Department of Defense contracts.

Unlike Dallas-headquartered ATI Inc. and Cleveland-based Consolidated Precision Products, each with two sites in Albany and Millersburg, Ti Squared has had fewer regulatory run-ins.

“We feel that we are the best at what we do. And that goes for the environment,” Rau said.