Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact: Rebecca Helgesen 651-757-2421 Saint Paul, Minn. -- Minco Products will pay a civil penalty of $65,600 for a variety of alleged hazardous waste violations at the company's suburban Twin Cities plant, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced today. Minco has manufactured flexible circuits, temperature sensing devices and heaters at its Fridley location for 40 years. These operations generate hazardous waste, including corrosive wastes, lead-contaminated wastes, cyanide wastes and solvents. Over several years, both Anoka County and MPCA staff observed and documented violations of hazardous waste rules including inadequate staff training, open hazardous waste containers and lack of proper labels on hazardous waste containers, as well as a small spill left unrecovered. In addition to paying the civil penalty, Minco has corrected the violations and submitted plans to the MPCA on how the company plans to follow hazardous waste rules in the future. When calculating penalties, the MPCA takes into account how seriously the violations affected the environment, whether they were first-time or repeat violations, and how promptly the violations were reported to proper authorities. Penalties also attempt to recover the calculated economic benefit gained by failure to comply with environmental laws. The MPCA offers outreach and training to help businesses meet environmental requirements. For a comprehensive list of enforcement actions by the MPCA, see the agency's Web site at: www.pca.state.mn.us/newscenter/enforcement.html.