UPS GROUND FREIGHT INC

UPS Ground Freight Inc., the general-freight trucking operation historically tied to 20 facilities tracked in EPA's ECHO exporter, carries an allocated 24-month civil penalty exposure of approximately $2.55 million across eight quarters flagged for non-compliance [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. That ECHO-derived figure is a pro-rata share of a five-year total. Read it alongside the June 16, 2021 EPA Region 6 consent agreement, under which UPS and TForce Freight — the rebranded successor to UPS Ground Freight — agreed to a $3.8 million civil penalty and a 24-month compliance schedule covering 183 Region 6 locations [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement]. That settlement is the single most material enforcement anchor in the record. It governs the interpretation of every subsequent ECHO entry [source: https://epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide].

The peer set in NAICS 484122 (General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Less-Than-Truckload) shows materially higher penalty totals at TForce Freight ($16.7M, 77 violations) and ABF Freight System ($11.77M, 10 violations). Both figures place UPS Ground Freight in the lower quartile of 24-month penalty exposure within its direct peer group [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. On November 13, 2025, As You Sow filed a shareholder resolution seeking a third-party environmental justice audit at the UPS parent, signaling continued investor-side scrutiny of community-level exposure from freight and parcel operations [source: https://www.asyousow.org/resolutions/2025/11/13-ups-third-party-environmental-justice-audit]. The company is privately held within the UPS corporate family and does not file a standalone 10-K. Parent UPS disclosures in the 2024 GRI Report provide the primary self-reported baseline [source: https://about.ups.com/content/dam/upsstories/images/our-impact/reporting/2024-UPS-GRI-Report.pdf].

The dominant compliance event of the past 24 months traces back to the June 16, 2021 Region 6 Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) between EPA, UPS, and TForce Freight. Under that order, the respondents agreed to correct alleged Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste violations across 183 facilities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas, paid a $3.8 million civil penalty, and accepted a 24-month corrective action schedule [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement]. The CAFO specifically required a web-based hazardous waste tracking platform, new standard operating procedures, and training administered by Corporate Environmental Coordinators reporting to regional Corporate Environmental Managers [source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/documents/ups-cafo.pdf].

EPA issued a follow-on announcement dated October 19, 2022, confirming nationwide settlement terms and characterizing the action as a mechanism to correct alleged hazardous waste violations across the UPS footprint [source: https://epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide]. Reuters coverage from June 16, 2021 identified the underlying allegations as improper management of universal waste, aerosol cans, and other hazardous waste streams generated in routine freight terminal operations [source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/brief-ups-tforce-settle-pollution-allegations-five-states-2021-06-16/]. The ECHO exporter, refreshed as of May 4, 2026, attributes eight non-compliance quarters and a pro-rata 24-month penalty of $2,552,480 to the UPS Ground Freight Inc. legal name across 20 tracked facility IDs [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The ECHO derivation formula — penalty_24mo = total_5yr × (24/60) — means the 24-month figure reflects amortized exposure rather than new standalone penalties in the trailing two years. That distinction matters when comparing the ECHO number against the $3.8 million headline from the CAFO.

Parallel regulatory activity outside EPA includes an OSHA citation record against the UPS Ground Freight establishment and a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) settlement on September 18 for alleged violations of 49 CFR §§ 383.37(a) and 390.6, resolved for $9,220 [source: https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=1457403.015&citation_id=01001] [source: https://landline.media/ups-challenges-47k-judgment-in-osha-whistleblower-complaint/]. No active NPDES or Title V permits are recorded in ECHO for this legal entity, with the latest permit date logged as September 29, 2022 [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The absence of active major-source permits is consistent with a freight terminal operating model where hazardous waste generator status under RCRA, not stationary-source air permits, is the primary compliance surface.

Action 1 — EPA Region 6 CAFO, executed June 16, 2021, program: RCRA Subtitle C (hazardous waste). Respondents: United Parcel Service, Inc. and TForce Freight, Inc. (formerly UPS Ground Freight). Scope: 183 facilities across AR, LA, OK, NM, TX, with 22 of those specifically operated as freight distribution terminals under the UPS Ground Freight/TForce Freight banner [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement]. Civil penalty: $3,800,000. Injunctive relief took the form of a 24-month corrective action schedule — deployment of a web-based hazardous waste tracking platform, revised standard operating procedures, and mandatory training, all overseen by seven Corporate Environmental Managers in Region 6 [source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/documents/ups-cafo.pdf].

Action 2 — EPA nationwide follow-on settlement, announced October 19, 2022, program: RCRA. The release frames the resolution as nationwide correction of alleged hazardous waste violations and operates as the umbrella communication of the 2021 Region 6 agreement's terms [source: https://epa.gov/newsreleases/ups-settles-epa-correct-alleged-hazardous-waste-violations-nationwide].

Action 3 — FMCSA settlement dated September 18, program: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, specifically 49 CFR § 383.37(a) (allowing operation by a driver without a valid CDL) and § 390.6. Settlement amount: $9,220 [source: https://landline.media/ups-challenges-47k-judgment-in-osha-whistleblower-complaint/].

Action 4 — OSHA whistleblower matter, in which UPS Ground Freight is contesting a $47,000 judgment. Program: Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) Section 31105 whistleblower jurisdiction administered by OSHA [source: https://landline.media/ups-challenges-47k-judgment-in-osha-whistleblower-complaint/] [source: https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=1457403.015&citation_id=01001]. The FMCSA and OSHA matters are distinct in program authority and dollar magnitude, but together they confirm a compliance surface that extends well beyond the RCRA record.

Action 5 — ECHO-tracked non-compliance quarters: eight quarters flagged across the 20 facility IDs tied to the UPS Ground Freight legal name, with the $2,552,480 24-month figure derived as 40% of the rolling five-year total penalty [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. Separately, search results surface a reported $5.3M EPA settlement headline that requires direct EPA verification before attribution [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement].

Facility-level EJScreen indices are not populated in the ECHO export for the 20 facility IDs associated with this legal entity; the ej_index_avg field returns 0.0, which indicates missing data rather than a zero-exposure finding [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The following facility references draw instead from corroborated EPA and news records.

Louisville, Kentucky — UPS Worldport Hub. Reporting from February 26, 2026 identifies this site as the world's largest express air cargo hub, overtaking FedEx Memphis [source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ups-facility-overtakes-fedex-world-211957619.html]. The Worldport complex sits under the UPS Air brand rather than UPS Ground Freight, but it anchors the combined freight footprint and is the locus of ongoing facility consolidations that carry downstream compliance implications.

Louisville, Kentucky — Bluegrass Parkway facility. UPS confirmed a June 2026 closure affecting dozens of employees, part of a January 2026 announcement to close 24 facilities and cut thousands of jobs [source: https://www.wlky.com/article/ups-closing-louisville-facility-job-cuts/71006627] [source: https://whas11.com/article/news/local/ups-facility-bluegrass-parkway-closing-june/417-33a71d24-2397-4d73-a465-7aedda3505cb]. Facility closures create near-term RCRA closure obligations for any accumulated hazardous waste and trigger notification duties to state regulators — a compliance dimension that the Bluegrass Parkway shutdown will require the company to address directly.

Texas (multi-site, Region 6) — 22 freight distribution facilities operated under the UPS Ground Freight/TForce Freight banner were the direct subject of the 2021 CAFO's injunctive relief [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement]. Texas accounts for the largest share of Region 6 terminal sites covered by that order.

Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico — the remaining Region 6 terminals covered by the 2021 CAFO, with enhanced hazardous waste tracking and training obligations extending for 24 months from execution [source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/documents/ups-cafo.pdf].

OSHA establishment record — the agency's IMIS database returns a specific establishment-level citation record for UPS Ground Freight Inc. with citation ID 01001, confirming a worker-safety compliance surface distinct from the EPA record [source: https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=1457403.015&citation_id=01001].

Universal waste and aerosol can waste sit at the center of the 2021 CAFO's alleged RCRA violations [source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/documents/ups-cafo.pdf]. Universal waste under 40 CFR Part 273 covers batteries, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment, and lamps. At freight terminals, improper handling typically arises from damaged-in-transit parcels — a container ruptures on a loading dock, and the resulting spill triggers generator-status obligations the facility may not have anticipated. Exposure pathways run in two directions: worker inhalation of volatile solvents released at the point of breakage, and community exposure through stormwater runoff when ruptured containers reach drainage infrastructure. EPA's hazardous waste generator summary describes these waste streams in the context of the UPS settlement [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement].

Hazardous waste more broadly under RCRA Subtitle C is the second dimension. The CAFO's injunctive relief requires tracking of the quantity of all hazardous waste generated and accumulated at each facility, indicating that generator-status determinations — Very Small Quantity Generator, Small Quantity Generator, Large Quantity Generator — were among the compliance gaps [source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/documents/ups-cafo.pdf]. Misclassification risk is elevated at freight terminals because episodic damaged-parcel events can push monthly generation above SQG thresholds without warning, converting a VSQG into an SQG overnight and triggering a different regulatory tier.

Mobile-source emissions — diesel particulate matter and nitrogen oxides — are not the subject of the CAFO, but they are the dominant ambient pollutants associated with freight terminal operations. They are also the focus of the As You Sow November 13, 2025 shareholder proposal seeking a third-party environmental justice audit of the UPS parent [source: https://www.asyousow.org/resolutions/2025/11/13-ups-third-party-environmental-justice-audit]. The ECHO top_pollutants field is empty for this legal entity, reflecting the absence of active air or water permits rather than the absence of emissions [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

Within NAICS 484122, UPS Ground Freight Inc.'s 8 violations and $2.55M 24-month allocated penalty total rank below all three top peers on both metrics [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. TForce Freight — the post-divestiture successor entity that absorbed the former UPS Ground Freight operations — shows 77 violations and $16.69M, indicating that enforcement activity associated with the operational footprint has migrated to the TForce legal name [source: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/united-parcel-service-inc-ups-settlement]. The two ABF Freight System entities combined show $17.97M across 22 violations. On an operational basis, the UPS-origin exposure is best read as the sum of UPS Ground Freight Inc. plus TForce Freight, given that the 2021 CAFO named both as respondents [source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/brief-ups-tforce-settle-pollution-allegations-five-states-2021-06-16/].

UPS Ground Freight Inc. is a private subsidiary and does not file a standalone 10-K; the SEC 10-K and 10-Q research bundles supplied for this briefing returned empty [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The parent UPS GRI Report's cautionary note states that forward-looking statements regarding strategic direction, prospects, and future results are subject to risks that could cause actual results to differ materially, and directs readers to the company's SEC filings for risk factor detail [source: https://about.ups.com/content/dam/upsstories/images/our-impact/reporting/2024-UPS-GRI-Report.pdf]. Two near-term signals sit outside the 10-K channel. On May 4, 2026, Amazon launched Amazon Supply Chain Services, spanning ocean, air, ground, and rail freight; analysts characterized the move as direct competition, and UPS shares fell 9.68% in a single session [source: https://tradingkey.com/news/market-movers/261853359-market-movers-ups-20260504] [source: https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/fedex-ups-shares-sink-on-watershed-amazon-logistics-move]. Separately, the planned 2026 closure of 24 facilities — announced on the January earnings call and already underway at the Bluegrass Parkway site in Louisville — introduces near-term RCRA closure obligations and state notification requirements at each shuttered terminal [source: https://www.wlky.com/article/ups-closing-louisville-facility-job-cuts/71006627].