Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact: Sam Brungardt, 651-282-6410 Toll-free: 1-800-657-3864 Saint Paul, Minn. -- Aircraft Service International Inc. (ASIG) has agreed to pay a $30,000 civil penalty to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and to donate $10,000 to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for environmental improvements at Fort Snelling State Park for allegedly failing to take reasonable steps which would have prevented three spills of jet fuel from occurring at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. ASIG refuels aircraft at the airport's Humphrey Terminal. On November 6 and November 9, 2005, ASIG employees overfilled a fuel-delivery truck at the Humphrey Terminal Tank Farm, resulting in spills of 20 and 115 gallons of diesel fuel, respectively. The overfills occurred, the MPCA alleged, because established procedures for the transfer of fuel were not followed. On March 5, 2006, an ASIG tanker truck carrying 11,000 gallons of jet fuel was involved in an accident. The accident resulted in the loss of the truck's entire load of fuel to the airport's storm sewer system. For that spill to have occurred, the MPCA alleged, an internal valve on the truck must have failed, a malfunction that would have been detected if established procedures had been followed. The $10,000 that ASIG will donate to the DNR is for a Supplemental Environmental Project. The money will be used this summer at Fort Snelling State Park to establish native plantings at the Visitors Center or to remove weeds from Snelling Lake. This is the fourth enforcement action that the MPCA has taken against ASIG since March 2005, when ASIG paid $41,666 for environmental violations at the airport's Lindbergh Terminal and $45,000 for environmental violations at the Humphrey Terminal. ASIG also paid a $55,000 penalty for environmental violations at the airport in February 2006. When calculating penalties, the MPCA takes into account how seriously the violation affected the environment, whether it is a first time or repeat violation, and how promptly the violation was reported to appropriate authorities. It also attempts to recover the calculated economic benefit gained by failure to comply with environmental laws in a timely manner. For a comprehensive list of enforcement actions that the MPCA may take, see the agency's Web site at www.pca.state.mn.us/newscenter/enforcement.html.