Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Technical contact: Sarah Kilgriff 651-297-8581 Media contact: Mark Sulzbach 651-296-7768 Saint Paul, Minn. -- Under an agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Central Soils Remediation of Belle Plaine, doing business as AB Environmental, must pay a civil penalty of $19,000 for alleged air quality permit violations discovered by the MPCA. The company thermally treats soils contaminated with petroleum products. The high heat burns off or volatilizes the petroleum making the soil safe for reuse. The MPCA alleges that Central Soils Remediation violated several air emission permit conditions including failure to test equipment to ensure emissions were under specified limits as well as several reporting violations. Central Soils Remediation agrees to complete performance testing for its equipment and to submit the reports it failed to submit previously. In addition, the company will develop a detailed compliance plan to ensure that violations do not occur in the future. When calculating penalties, the MPCA takes into account how seriously the violation affected the environment, how quickly it was reported to the appropriate authorities and whether it was a first time or repeat violation. It also attempts to recover the calculated economic benefit gained by failure to comply with environmental laws. For a comprehensive list of enforcement actions by the MPCA, visit the agency Web site at hhref="/newscenter/enforcement.html.