Company official says non-compliance was not willful
Boise White Paper, LLC was charged $2,475 for air quality violations in 2010, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
The MPCA concluded 47 enforcement cases totaling $355,099 in penalties during the fourth quarter of 2010, including the Boise infraction. The MPCA concluded 203 enforcement cases totaling more than $2.7 million in penalties during all of 2010.
“The violation for this penalty was for a failed stack test in June,” reported Stephen Mikkelson, information officer for MPCA. “Which means that in June they had an incident where their particulate matter emissions exceeded their permitted level. They have paid the penalty and the proper corrections have been made so they are in compliance.”
The June-test penalty was the only MPCA enforcement on the company in 2010, Mikkelson noted.
Bob Anderson, public affairs manager for the local Boise mill, explained that the infraction occurred on the No. 2 power boiler. When tests were repeated in July, the boiler emissions were found to be in compliance.
Anderson said he was unsure why the test results in June varied from those taken in July, but that no remediation measures were necessary to regain compliance.
“It’s something that wasn’t willful,” Anderson said. This is the first such MPCA infraction for the company since 2007, Anderson recalled, when they had an air-quality noncompliance on another unit.
“We take our commitment to the environment very seriously here,” he said. “We live here and we want clean air and clean water. All of us do.”
Boise hires an outside engineering firm to conduct such tests as required. The test on that unit is done infrequently, Anderson said, about every one to five years.
When Boise received the results showing they exceeded the limit, they notified MPCA, Anderson said. The company immediately paid the MPCA fine upon receiving notice, he said.
The 47 enforcement cases the MPCA handled statewide during the fourth quarter of 2010 ranged in charges from $66,000 to $500.
On the high end, Heron Lake BioEnergy LLC in Heron Lake was fined $66,000 for water quality and air quality violations.
On the low end, Dick Schlemmer was charged $500 for solid waste violations at an old church/residence demolition in Wabasso.
A complete summary of environmental enforcement actions can be found on the MPCA’s News Media Center web page at www.pca.state.mn.us/newscenter/index.html.
