Bordwine Development Fined More Than $6 Million For Hand Sanitizer Fires

An Oklahoma business was slapped with a muti-million dollar fine, the largest in Department of Environmental Quality history.

According to an administrative compliance order filed by the DEQ, the respondent, Bordwine Development has sixty days to pay $6,653,850. 

This, after massive fires erupted in early August at two Grady County sites illegally storing expired hand sanitizer. 

According to the Office of the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal, weeks before the fires, they were already investigating the warehouses. 

Since their initial response, the investigation has grown exponentially, and now includes ten agencies, including OSBI. 

The DEQ filed a compliance order Monday, August 22. 

Stockpiles of expired hand sanitizer were brought in from out of state. 

"There's a lot of trucks, there's at least somewhere between ten to twenty trucks sometimes,” said neighbor to one of the sites, Thomas Butler.  

All of it was deemed hazardous waste by the DEQ.  

In a press conference Monday, Rob Singletary, DEQ's chief of staff said contaminants had been released into the environment at all three sites. 

“There are aquifers below everywhere in the state. There’s ground water, so we’re looking at that,” said Rob Singletary, Chief of Staff at the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. 

Bordwine Development has thirty days to properly dispose of hazardous material and to remediate the sites. 

“There’s transportation requirements, storage requirements, and there’s disposal requirements that kick in on both state and federal level,” said Singletary, 

And while Singletary would not comment on whether a hand sanitizer fire in Brownsville, Texas was connected to Bordwine, he did say the investigation was far from over. 

According to Grady County District Attorney Jason Hicks, Bordwine Development may have sold or donated potentially toxic bottles of toiletries to citizens. His office asks they all be brought to the Chickasha Fire Department. 

News 9 reached out to Mr. Bordwine but have not heard back.