UNITED PARCEL SERVICE-MONROE

United Parcel Service's Monroe, North Carolina hub (EPA facility ID 110004027909; NYSE: UPS, CIK 0001090727) is a single processing node in a continental delivery network. It moved 5.2 billion packages in 2025. EPA ECHO data current as of May 6, 2026 records zero formal violations at the Monroe site over the preceding 24 months, no active permits on file, and a latest permit-related date of December 11, 2024 [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The facility's EJ Index average is reported as 0.0 — an artifact of absent EJScreen exposure indicators in the structured export, not a determination that surrounding communities face low burden [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

The $2.12 million 24-month penalty figure attached to the Monroe row is a derived allocation, not a local fine. ECHO's summary states the methodology: penalty_24mo = total_5yr × (24/60). The figure pro-rates UPS's five-year nationwide penalty footprint to the facility row. No Monroe-specific assessment underlies it.

The operative compliance record sits at the parent-company level. On June 16, 2021, EPA Region 6 announced a consent agreement and final order with UPS and TForce Freight covering 183 facilities across Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas, with a $3.8 million civil penalty [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement]. On October 19, 2022, EPA announced a separate nationwide consent agreement resolving alleged hazardous-waste regulatory violations at 1,160 facilities across 45 states and Puerto Rico [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide]. Law360 reported that financial component at over $5.3 million [source: https://www.law360.com/real-estate-authority/commercial/articles/1541549/ups-to-pay-5-3m-nationwide-hazardous-waste-epa-penalty]. UPS's 2025 10-K, filed February 17, 2026, reports $88.7 billion in revenue [source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1090727/000162828026008432/ups-20251231.htm].

The compliance picture for UPS-Monroe requires separating two distinct data layers: site-specific ECHO records and parent-entity enforcement history. EPA ECHO's exporter file, current as of May 6, 2026, shows the Monroe, NC facility (FRS ID 110004027909) carrying zero quarters of noncompliance over the trailing 24 months, no active permits, and no top-pollutant entries in the structured pollutant fields [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The $2.12 million penalty figure requires a technical caveat. ECHO's summary states the formula — penalty_24mo = total_5yr × (24/60) — making plain that the number is a pro-rated share of UPS's five-year corporate penalty footprint assigned to each facility row. It is an attribution artifact, not a Monroe-specific fine.

The chronological record at the parent level begins before the current 24-month window but carries compliance obligations into it. On June 16, 2021, EPA Region 6 announced a consent agreement and final order with UPS and TForce Freight requiring corrective action at 183 facilities across Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas, together with a $3.8 million civil penalty and a 24-month compliance runway [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement]. That agreement covered alleged violations of hazardous-waste regulations across those five states. On October 19, 2022, EPA announced a separate nationwide consent agreement resolving alleged hazardous-waste regulatory violations at 1,160 facilities across 45 states and Puerto Rico — including failures to make land disposal determinations and to conduct proper on-site management of hazardous waste [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide]. Law360 reported the financial component of that 2022 matter at over $5.3 million [source: https://www.law360.com/real-estate-authority/commercial/articles/1541549/ups-to-pay-5-3m-nationwide-hazardous-waste-epa-penalty].

Within the more recent 2024–2026 window, the compliance record shifts toward incident-driven contingencies and ongoing remediation. UPS's 10-Q filed May 6, 2026 discloses that as of March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, the company recorded immaterial contingencies related to environmental remediation and other claims in Other current liabilities, with corresponding insurance recoveries in Accounts receivable [source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1090727/000162828026031154/ups-20260331.htm]. The filing notes that UPS is "subject to a number of claims, litigation and other proceedings arising out of this incident" and states it is reasonably possible that resolution could result in additional charges — and related insurance recoveries — in future periods that cannot be reasonably estimated. The latest permit-related date in the ECHO record for Monroe is December 11, 2024 [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

Action 1 — EPA Region 6 Consent Agreement and Final Order, announced June 16, 2021. Program: RCRA (hazardous waste). Geography: 183 facilities across Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. Respondents: UPS and TForce Freight. Outcome: civil penalty of $3.8 million; 24-month compliance window; both respondents required to implement enhanced compliance programs across the covered sites [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement].

Action 2 — EPA Nationwide Consent Agreement and Final Order, announced October 19, 2022. Program: RCRA (hazardous waste). Geography: 1,160 facilities across 45 states and the territory of Puerto Rico. Specific allegations: failure to make land disposal determinations and improper on-site management of hazardous waste. Outcome: company-wide environmental policy implementation required to prevent future noncompliance; financial component reported at more than $5.3 million [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide] [source: https://www.law360.com/real-estate-authority/commercial/articles/1541549/ups-to-pay-5-3m-nationwide-hazardous-waste-epa-penalty].

Action 3 — Incident-related environmental contingencies disclosed in UPS's 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, filed May 6, 2026. Program: not specified in the disclosure; characterized as environmental remediation and other claims. Outcome: immaterial contingencies recorded in Other current liabilities with corresponding insurance recoveries in Accounts receivable; related claims, litigation, and proceedings remain ongoing; future financial impact stated as not reasonably estimable but not expected to be material to results of operations or liquidity [source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1090727/000162828026031154/ups-20260331.htm].

For UPS-Monroe (FRS 110004027909) specifically, EPA ECHO records zero quarters of noncompliance and no formal violation events over the 24 months ending May 6, 2026. No individual penalty assessments attach to the Monroe facility row in the export. The $2.12 million figure is a derived 24/60 allocation of five-year parent-attributed penalty totals — not a Monroe-specific outcome [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

1. UPS-Monroe, Monroe, NC (FRS 110004027909). The single facility in scope for this briefing. ECHO records no 24-month violations, no active permits, and an EJ Index average of 0.0; the latest permit-related date on file is December 11, 2024. The derived $2.12 million 24-month penalty figure reflects pro-rata attribution from parent-entity five-year totals, not a Monroe-specific assessment [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

2. UPS Region 6 hub network (AR, LA, OK, NM, TX). The June 2021 EPA Region 6 settlement covered 183 facilities across five states, each carrying enhanced compliance obligations under the consent agreement's 24-month corrective-action schedule. Individual facility-level outcomes within the cohort were aggregated into the $3.8 million parent penalty rather than disclosed separately in EPA's announcement [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement].

3. UPS national hazardous-waste cohort (45 states + Puerto Rico). The October 2022 nationwide consent agreement spans 1,160 facilities. EPA's announcement identifies the alleged conduct categories — failure to make land disposal determinations and improper on-site management of hazardous waste — without naming individual sites. Geographic breadth is the principal facility-level disclosure available in the public record [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide].

4. Peer entity UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC (UPS). Eleven facilities appear under this parent slug in the NAICS 492110 peer table, with 8 violations and $10.64 million in 24-month penalty totals in the ECHO-derived export — the highest in the peer set used for comparison [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

5. Peer entity UNITED PARCEL SERVICES. Ten facilities, 6 violations, $6.42 million 24-month penalty total per the same export. The presence of multiple ECHO entity slugs reflects how UPS operations are recorded across separate legal-name strings in the EPA database. Analysts should reconcile across entries when assessing parent-level exposure [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

The ECHO export for UPS-Monroe lists no top pollutants. That finding is consistent with the facility's parcel-sortation operating profile: a high-throughput package-sorting hub is not a stationary industrial emissions source [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The relevant pollutant context sits at the enterprise level, flowing from the RCRA hazardous-waste settlements of 2021 and 2022.

EPA's October 2022 announcement specifies the alleged conduct: failure to make land disposal determinations and improper on-site management of hazardous waste — categories that cover solvents, used oils, batteries, and small-quantity-generator waste streams typical of vehicle-maintenance bays and shipping-hub operations [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide]. Hazardous-waste exposure pathways for surrounding communities run primarily through transport, storage, and disposal handling rather than routine air or water emissions at sort facilities. EPA's enforcement framing in the June 2021 Region 6 settlement concentrated on corrective compliance programs across 183 facilities. The underlying risk profile is mishandled containerization and disposal-determination errors — failure points that can translate into off-site contamination when left unaddressed [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement].

Environmental-justice implications at the corporate level have drawn shareholder attention. As You Sow filed a November 13, 2025 shareholder resolution requesting a third-party environmental justice audit of UPS, citing structural environmental-injustice risk and material financial exposures — regulatory scrutiny, litigation, operational disruptions, and reputational damage — that arise when company operations affect overburdened communities [source: https://www.asyousow.org/resolutions/2025/11/13-ups-third-party-environmental-justice-audit]. North Carolina's documented history of environmental siting decisions and their effects on communities of color provides relevant geographic context for the Monroe site, even where the ECHO EJ Index field is empty [source: https://www.pullen.org/blog/tales-of-environmental-racial-injustice-in-north-carolina].

Within NAICS 492110 (Couriers and Express Delivery Services), the three entries carrying the largest 24-month penalty totals in the ECHO-derived export are all UPS-affiliated legal-name strings — a function of EPA's recording practice across multiple entity slugs rather than a conventional competitive peer set. Monroe's reported $2.12 million 24-month figure, a derived 24/60 share of five-year totals, sits below the 11-facility "UPS" parent slug at $10.64 million, the 10-facility "UNITED PARCEL SERVICES" slug at $6.42 million, and the 16-facility "UNITED PARCEL SVC" slug at $5.76 million [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. All three peer rows show ej_index_avg of 0.0 and zero top-pollutant entries. That is a function of structured-export field coverage, not a substantive finding of zero community exposure.

UPS's 2025 10-K, filed February 17, 2026, frames forward-looking risk through standard cautionary language directing investors to SEC filings and Investor Relations materials. The strategy is Customer First, People Led, Innovation Driven. It encompasses healthcare-portfolio expansion — including the 2025 acquisitions of Frigo-Trans and Andlauer Healthcare Group — an RFID rollout across 5,500 UPS Store locations and U.S. package cars, and a December 2025 final-mile delivery agreement with USPS effective 2026. The filing states that forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. The company does not undertake to update them except as required by law. Item 1A directs readers to SEC filings and investor disclosures for risk-factor specifics; the excerpted passage does not contain an environmental risk-factor sub-section in the available text. For the most current environmental risk picture, pair Item 1A with the 10-Q's environmental-contingencies disclosure [source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1090727/000162828026008432/ups-20251231.htm].