UNITED PARCEL SERVICE - COLUMBUS

United Parcel Service — Columbus (NE) operates within the broader UPS enterprise (NYSE: UPS; CIK 0001090727), a global package delivery company that reported $88.7 billion in 2025 revenue and moved 5.2 billion packages during the year [source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1090727/000162828026008432/ups-20251231.htm]. The Columbus, Nebraska operating locus rolls up to two EPA-registered facilities (FRS IDs 110004079345 and 110003132039). Those two registrations carry one quarter of noncompliance in the trailing 24 months and an allocated penalty total of $4.24 million, derived by pro-rating the five-year ECHO penalty series to a 24-month window [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. No active permits appear in the current ECHO snapshot as of May 4, 2026. The environmental-justice index average is reported as zero — a figure that reflects either genuinely low EJSCREEN values for the specific Columbus footprint or an unpopulated EJSCREEN join, not a verified absence of adjacent community burden.

Zoom out to the aggregated UPS parent and the picture shifts. Eight quarters of noncompliance and $10.64 million in allocated 24-month penalties span 11 FRS-linked facilities, meaning the Columbus sub-entity represents a minority share of the corporate enforcement footprint [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The dominant enforcement anchor is the October 19, 2022 nationwide EPA consent agreement that resolved hazardous-waste allegations across 1,160 UPS facilities in 45 states and Puerto Rico [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide]. That single action shapes nearly every penalty figure in the ECHO record. Analyst-facing news in the 30 days before publication added two further data points: a UBS price-target cut to $123 [source: https://dailypolitical.com/2026/05/02/ubs-group-cuts-united-parcel-service-nyseups-price-target-to-123-00.html] and a disclosed plan to close 51 parcel facilities during 2026 [source: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ups-to-close-27-additional-parcel-facilities-in-2026]. Both items are material to the future footprint of regional hubs and will alter the ECHO facility denominator in subsequent reporting cycles.

EPA ECHO records for the united-parcel-service-columbus slug tie to two facility registrations — FRS 110004079345 and FRS 110003132039 — with a combined single quarter of noncompliance in the trailing 24 months and $4,240,000 in allocated penalty value [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. ECHO lists zero active permits for these IDs at the snapshot date, and no latest permit issuance date is populated. That field combination typically signals either lapsed program coverage or a facility whose primary regulated activity has shifted since the last inspection cycle. The penalty magnitude at the Columbus sub-entity is primarily an allocation artifact of the broader 2022 UPS national hazardous-waste settlement rather than a discrete Nebraska-specific civil penalty — the five-year ECHO penalty series for the parent concentrates around that consent agreement [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide].

The chronological record opens on October 19, 2022, when EPA issued a consent agreement and final order resolving RCRA violations at 1,160 UPS facilities across 45 states and Puerto Rico. Alleged deficiencies included failure to make land-disposal determinations and improper on-site management of hazardous waste [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide]. Regional reporting on that action described corrective obligations and a civil penalty component, with UPS agreeing to implement environmental policies to prevent future noncompliance [source: https://www.toledoblade.com/business/development/2022/10/22/ups-to-pay-fine-correct-hazardous-waste-violations-epa-says/stories/20221022101]. That settlement did not emerge in isolation. A June 16, 2021 EPA Region 6 settlement with UPS and TForce Freight had already covered hazardous-waste regulation violations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and tribal jurisdictions within those states — establishing a multi-year pattern of RCRA-program findings that preceded the 2022 nationwide resolution [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement].

Through 2024 and 2025, no new EPA press-release-level enforcement actions against UPS entities surface in the research bundle for the Columbus, NE locus. The 2024 GRI Report published by UPS in March 2025 covers calendar-year 2024 disclosure on environmental programs [source: https://about.ups.com/content/dam/upsstories/images/our-impact/reporting/2024-UPS-GRI-Report.pdf]. One geographic note warrants attention: the FAA completed a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision for UPS Flight Forward drone package delivery operations in Columbus, Ohio in March 2023 — relevant to the Columbus, OH hub, not the Nebraska entity, though the two locations are frequently conflated in search results [source: https://www.faa.gov/uas/advanced_operations/media/FONSI-ROD-and-Final-EA_UPSFF_Columbus-OH_2023-03-30]. UPS's 10-K filed February 17, 2026 discloses strategic shifts including the Frigo-Trans and Andlauer Healthcare Group acquisitions and a USPS last-mile agreement beginning in 2026, each of which will reshape facility-level waste and air emissions profiles downstream [source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1090727/000162828026008432/ups-20251231.htm]. The May 2026 announcement of 51 parcel-distribution-center closures during 2026 sets up further footprint compression that will alter ECHO facility counts in future reporting cycles [source: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ups-to-close-27-additional-parcel-facilities-in-2026].

The single largest documented enforcement matter touching the UPS enterprise in recent years is the October 19, 2022 EPA consent agreement and final order resolving RCRA hazardous-waste violations at 1,160 UPS facilities across 45 states and Puerto Rico [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide]. EPA's release identified specific alleged deficiencies: failure to make land-disposal determinations and failure to conduct proper on-site hazardous-waste management. UPS agreed to implement corporate environmental policies to prevent recurrence [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide]. Contemporaneous press coverage reported the monetary component and corrective-action obligations [source: https://www.toledoblade.com/business/development/2022/10/22/ups-to-pay-fine-correct-hazardous-waste-violations-epa-says/stories/20221022101].

That 2022 action had a documented predecessor. EPA Region 6 announced a June 16, 2021 settlement with United Parcel Service, Inc. and TForce Freight, Inc. covering hazardous-waste regulation compliance at all facilities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and tribal jurisdictions in those states [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement]. The Region 6 matter preceded and informed the 2022 nationwide resolution, tracing a multi-year arc of RCRA findings across the UPS network.

For the Columbus, NE slug specifically, the ECHO exporter identifies one quarter of noncompliance across the two linked FRS IDs — 110004079345 and 110003132039 — during the trailing 24 months, with $4,240,000 in allocated penalty value under the ECHO exporter methodology of pro-rating total five-year penalties to a 24-month window [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. No CAA- or CWA-program violation headers appear. No NPDES permit identifiers are populated. No separate state-program or state-lead actions for the Nebraska footprint surface in the research bundle, and no PACER or CourtListener docket entries specific to Columbus, NE UPS operations were returned in the search pass.

Facility 1 — FRS 110004079345 (Columbus, NE): ECHO lists this registration under the united-parcel-service-columbus slug with zero active permits and contributes to the single 24-month quarter of noncompliance attributed to the slug [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The EJ index average is reported as 0.0. In ECHO that value typically reflects an unpopulated EJSCREEN join rather than a verified absence of adjacent residential exposure.

Facility 2 — FRS 110003132039 (Columbus, NE): The second registration under the same slug likewise carries no active permits and returns no top-pollutant series in the ECHO exporter pull [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The derivation methodology — viol_24mo = min(qtrs_with_nc, 8); penalty_24mo = total_5yr × 24/60 — confirms that the $4.24 million allocation is a mathematical spread of a longer-window penalty series, not a single Nebraska civil penalty [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

Columbus, OH — UPS Worldport-adjacent and Flight Forward operations (separate from the Nebraska slug but frequently conflated): The FAA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision for UPS Flight Forward drone package delivery operations in Columbus, Ohio in March 2023 [source: https://www.faa.gov/uas/advanced_operations/media/FONSI-ROD-and-Final-EA_UPSFF_Columbus-OH_2023-03-30]. A separate academic write-up describes the Columbus, OH distribution center's throughput and community-impact profile in descriptive terms [source: https://explore.st-aug.edu/exp/columbus-ohios-ups-distribution-center-behind-the-promise-of-next-day-delivery]. The two Columbus locations share a name and nothing else — analysts should treat their ECHO records as distinct.

Parent enterprise — UPS Inc. consolidated FRS set: The parent slug aggregates 11 linked facilities with eight quarters of noncompliance and $10.64 million in allocated 24-month penalties, placing the Columbus, NE sub-entity at roughly 40% of the parent's allocated penalty total despite representing under 20% of parent facility count [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. That ratio reflects the two-facility denominator, not elevated Nebraska-specific enforcement intensity.

Peer sibling entity — 'United Parcel Services' slug: Ten facilities, six quarters of noncompliance, $6.42 million in allocated 24-month penalties [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. This sibling registration illustrates the ECHO corporate-family fragmentation that complicates consolidated enforcement attribution for UPS across the full enterprise.

The ECHO exporter returned no top-pollutant series for the Columbus, NE slug. That result is consistent with the facilities operating primarily as RCRA-regulated generators rather than Title V air permittees or NPDES dischargers [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. Without a populated pollutant series, the relevant context defaults to the RCRA waste streams implicated in the 2022 nationwide consent order.

Hazardous waste under RCRA Subtitle C is the EPA-identified category at issue. The October 2022 action cited failure to make land-disposal determinations and improper on-site hazardous-waste management at UPS package-handling facilities [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide]. In parcel logistics, the typical hazardous-waste fraction consists of damaged-in-transit shipments containing lithium batteries, consumer chemicals, aerosols, and pharmaceutical residues. That fraction expands directly with the UPS healthcare-logistics growth strategy disclosed in the 2025 10-K, which reported more than $11 billion in global healthcare revenue and cited the Frigo-Trans and Andlauer Healthcare Group acquisitions as volume drivers [source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1090727/000162828026008432/ups-20251231.htm].

Diesel particulate matter and NOx represent an indirect exposure pathway at logistics hubs. Neither pollutant is quantified in the ECHO pull for the Columbus, NE slug, but both are contextually relevant at any high-throughput ground-fleet hub. The 2021 UPS sustainability brochure stated fleet goals of 40% alternative fuel in ground operations by 2025 and a 50% CO2-per-package reduction by 2035 against a 2020 baseline [source: https://about.ups.com/content/dam/upsstories/assets/social-impact/2021-esg-highlights-brochure/en_en_2021SustainabilityBrochure_V15.pdf.pdf]. EJ implications at logistics hubs are typically concentrated in adjacent truck-route corridors. The Columbus, OH write-up discusses urban-infrastructure strain in descriptive form [source: https://explore.st-aug.edu/exp/columbus-ohios-ups-distribution-center-behind-the-promise-of-next-day-delivery], and a Columbus NDC essay frames the broader environmental-justice context in the Columbus urban area [source: https://www.columbusndc.org/post/environmental-racism-nationwide-and-in-columbus].

Inside NAICS 492110 (couriers and express delivery services), the three ECHO-registered sibling UPS slugs collectively account for 20 quarters of noncompliance and $22.82 million in allocated 24-month penalty value across 37 facilities, with the parent UPS Inc. registration carrying the largest single share at $10.64 million [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The Columbus, NE sub-entity's one quarter of noncompliance and $4.24 million allocation places it below the parent on violation count but high on per-facility allocated penalty — a direct consequence of the two-facility denominator rather than discrete Nebraska-specific enforcement intensity. The EJ index average of 0.0 across all three peer rows signals a systemic absence of populated EJSCREEN joins in the exporter, not a verified low-burden finding for any individual site.

UPS's 10-K filed February 17, 2026 for fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 frames forward-looking risk in standard cautionary language, noting that forward-looking statements are subject to limitations and that the company does not undertake obligations to update them except as required by law [source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1090727/000162828026008432/ups-20251231.htm]. Three strategic disclosures in Item 1 carry direct implications for the forward environmental profile. Healthcare-logistics expansion via Frigo-Trans and Andlauer Healthcare Group acquisitions increases the volume of regulated pharmaceutical and temperature-controlled waste moving through UPS sortation facilities. Extension of RFID labeling to 5,500 UPS Store locations adds a new category of electronic-component waste at retail touchpoints. A December 2025 agreement with USPS for last-mile support of Ground Saver and Mail Innovations volumes starting in 2026 will add incremental ground-fleet activity and associated diesel emissions at hub facilities [source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1090727/000162828026008432/ups-20251231.htm]. Set against those volume additions, the subsequently announced 2026 network compression — 51 parcel-distribution-center closures — will reduce the ECHO-registered facility denominator in future reporting cycles and concentrate regulated activity across a smaller number of sites [source: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ups-to-close-27-additional-parcel-facilities-in-2026].