Contact: Sam Brungardt, 651-757-2249
St. Paul, Minn. -- Northern States Power Co. (NSP) has agreed to pay a $15,075 civil penalty for allegedly failing to immediately notify the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), via the Minnesota Duty Officer, of a number of spills of substances that had the potential to cause water pollution.
NSP, an electricity and natural gas supply company, owns and operates 10 electrical power plants and more than 100,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines in Minnesota. The facilities and equipment operated by NSP have the potential to discharge substances that can cause water pollution if they are not recovered Minnesota law requires that any such discharges be reported immediately to the MPCA.
Between April 2007 and December 2009, NSP personnel reported 775 spills. About 20 of these spills were reported to the Minnesota Duty Officer between one and 42 days after they were discovered by NSP staff. The spills that were reported late were of hydraulic fluid, mineral oil, which in one instance contained PCBs or polychlorinated biphenols, and turbine oil. Despite their being reported late, NSP maintained that these spills were promptly cleaned up in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations.
The MPCA says it is critical that all spills be reported immediately. Spills that go unreported or that are reported late hinder the agency’s oversight of spill cleanup and sometimes necessitate expensive investigation to find the source of “mystery” spills.
The settlement reached between the MPCA and NSP is a stipulation agreement, one of the tools the MPCA uses 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, visit the agency’s Web site at www.pca.state.mn.us/newscenter/enforcement.html.
