Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact: Anne Perry Moore, 218-723-2356 Duluth, Minn. -- The Hibbing Taconite Company will pay a $24,000 civil penalty for alleged air quality violations and will return the facility to compliance within the next two years, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced today. The company owns and operates a taconite production facility near Hibbing, Minn. The facility mines and processes taconite ore into pellets used in steelmaking. Hibbing Taconite's air quality permit, issued in 2006, regulates equipment emissions and sets allowable operating ranges for air pollution control devices, called wet scrubbers, at several stages of the production process. Staff are required to monitor and adjust water flow and pressure rates when they deviate from allowable operating limits. Company wet scrubber monitoring reports submitted for 2007 and the first half of 2008 documented numerous exceedences of permit operating limits. In many cases, the company was unable to quickly return the wet scrubbers to within the permit-specified operating limits. To resolve these violations, the company has agreed to evaluate, modify and/or replace 36 wet scrubbers on or before Sept. 30, 2010. Required staff training will also help minimize future permit deviations. Stipulation agreements are one of the tools used by the MPCA to achieve compliance with environmental laws. 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 by the MPCA, go to the agency Web site at www.pca.state.mn.us/newscenter/enforcement.html. Minnesota law requires owners and operators of facilities with the potential to release air pollutants to have MPCA permits. They must also carefully monitor and maintain equipment because emissions exceeding state standards can degrade air quality. The MPCA offers outreach and training to help facilities meet their permit requirements. For more information on air quality permits and emission standards, visit the agency's Web site at www.pca.state.mn.us or call Bob Beresford, MPCA air quality inspector, at 218-723-4664. All MPCA staff can also be reached toll-free at 1-800-657-3864.