OR Department of Environmental Quality Fines Cement Firm $179K
Posted on: Tuesday, 4 October 2005, 21:00 CDT
By DJC Staff
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has issued a $179,300 penalty to Overland Park, Kan.-based Ash Grove Cement Co. because of what it said were repeated violations of an air quality permit for its Baker County cement manufacturing facility.
A DEQ review of Ash Grove's 2002 annual report, semiannual compliance certifications and other information revealed unreported exceeding of the plant's carbon monoxide emission limit, DEQ said Monday. In February 2004, DEQ documented similar violations during a comprehensive review of Ash Grove's compliance certifications for 2001, 2003 and 2004.
The violations include exceeding the plant's 490-pound-per-hour carbon monoxide emission limit on more than 100 occasions, DEQ said. In some cases, DEQ said, Ash Grove exceeded the emission limit by as much as 300 percent.
Additionally, DEQ said, Ash Grove failed to provide timely reports of excess emissions and submitted semiannual compliance certifications that did not identify all excess emissions.
Ash Grove also failed to maintain monitoring records for non- emission events and neither monitored nor met record-keeping requirements for water-spray systems that can minimize on-site emissions, DEQ said.
Since 2004, DEQ said, Ash Grove has instituted several changes and procedural corrections at the facility, which is located at 33060 Shirttail Creek Road in Durkee, including data auditing.
Ash Grove's Durkee plant is currently in compliance with its air quality permit, DEQ said.
Appeal procedures allow Ash Grove 20 days to either pay or appeal the penalty.
Source: Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR)
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