BMS identified and reported several CAL violations during a voluntary audit of 25 manufacturing facilities, following an initial EPA request for compliance data for the firm's plant in Evansville, Indiana.
Under the terms of the new settlement, BMS will "retire" or refurbish 17 of its hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigeration units at manufacturing facilities in Mt Vernon, Indiana and Hopewell in New Jersey. The firm has also agreed to take similar action at two of its plants in Puerto Rico.
In addition, the drugmaker has been ordered to pay approximately $127,000 in civil penalties for the reported violations and to take steps to bring a further 13 of its production plants up to code.
Commenting on the settlement, Granta Nakayama, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said that: "BMS has acted responsibly, not only to discover, document and correct past violations, but to eliminate the use of potentially damaging refrigerants in its operations."
"BMS took action and reported Clean Air Act violations at multiple facilities and is now committed to removing thousands of pounds of harmful ozone-depleting refrigerants from its operations," said Ronald Tenpas, assistant attorney general for the US Justice Department's Environmental and Natural Resources Division.
"We are pleased that, after violating our ozone protection requirements, Bristol-Myers Squibb is now committed to a settlement that will be good for the environment and good business practice," he added.
Additionally under the terms of the settlement, BMS will replace two comfort cooling stations at its plant in New Brunswick, New Jersey with a new air conditioning system linked to a centralised refrigeration unit.
When all of the measures are completed in July next year, the New Jersey-headquartered firm will have removed approximately 2,880 kilograms of HCFCs from its manufacturing operations.
Pharma must clean up its ACT
Last month, Pfizer agreed to pay $975,000 to resolve alleged violations of US PharmaMACT regulations, in the first settlement of its type in a federal court.
The breaches occurred between October 2002 and December 2005 at a manufacturing plant in Groton, Connecticut, that has since been divested as part of Pfizer's ongoing restructuring plan.
The PharmaMACT legislation was introduced in an attempt to control emissions of hazardous air pollutants used during pharmaceutical manufacturing operations.
Speaking at the time Mr Tenpas said: "This significant penalty, the first in federal court under the PharmaMACT regulations, should send a strong message to the pharmaceutical industry that they must be diligent in detecting and repairing leaks of hazardous substances.
