Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact:  Ralph Pribble, 651-757-2657

Saint Paul, Minn. -- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced that Multek Flexible Circuits, Inc.  has agreed to pay a $34,940 civil penalty to resolve alleged air quality violations at its manufacturing facility in Northfield, Minn. 

Multek makes flexible printed circuits for the electronics industry at its Northfield facility.  Some of the violations stem from when the company installed new emission units starting in 2003, for which the company should have applied to the MPCA for permit amendments prior to installing the units.

The company applied for reissuance of its permit in November of 2007, but was notified by the MPCA that the application was incomplete because of missing information.  At the same time, the company was not meeting the requirements of its existing air quality permit relating to testing the catalyst in emission-control equipment and was late in submittal of data to the MPCA.  In some cases, submittals were late by more than four years.

The result was that the company violated the terms of its air-quality permit, and also did not submit the proper applications for required permit amendments for several new emission units.

To resolve the violations, Multek will pay a civil penalty of $34,940.  In addition, the company agreed to a schedule of specific corrective actions to achieve compliance, including specific plans on how it will ensure compliance with the facility’s environmental permit limits and prevent reoccurrence of the violations in the future.  Failure to comply with the schedule in the agreement will result in further penalties. 

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 they were reported to appropriate authorities.  Penalties also attempt 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’s website at www.pca.state.mn.us/newscenter/enforcement.html.