According to a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) enforcement investigation, POET Biorefining-Glenville LLC violated several air permit conditions between 2018 and 2023 at its ethanol production facility in Albert Lea, Minn. Violations included emitting more particulate matter and volatile organic compounds than allowed by permit over the course of five years.
An MPCA staff review of company records confirmed violations including:
- Failure to conduct daily emissions observations on several pieces of equipment during the second half of 2021 and first half of 2022 reporting periods.
- Failure to maintain floating roof legs for two ethanol tanks resulting in excess volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions for a nearly five-year period.
- Failed performance stack tests for a cooling baghouse in April 2022 with emission limits exceeded for particulate matter (PM) by 16%, and for small particulate matter (PM10) and very small particulate matter (PM2.5) by 84%.
- Failed performance stack tests for cooling systems in November 2022 with emission limits exceeded for PM10 and PM2.5 by 10%, and VOCs by 13%.
- Failure to prevent fugitive emissions of particulate matter from a cooling cyclone system in February 2023.
In addition to paying the $52,805 civil penalty, POET Biorefining has completed a series of corrective actions including:
- Submitting a permit amendment to increase emission limits for VOCs, PM, PM10 and PM2.5 for its cooling systems and plans to maintain the limits.
- Submitting an updated operation and maintenance plan including a list of all control equipment; a plan ensuring control equipment operates while pollution emission units are operating; a plan ensuring pressure ranges are maintained for equipment; and a plan to maintain recordkeeping including employee training that demonstrates implementation for all facility daily inspections for control equipment.
- Submitting revised semiannual reports between 2018 and 2022 that document various violations, missed or deviated readings, and corrective actions.
- Submitting a plan to maintain floating roof legs for ethanol tanks in the future.
- Submitting an updated fugitive emissions control plan for visible and fugitive emissions for several pieces of equipment.
- Submitting revised emission inventory reports for the years of 2018 through 2021 for tank excess emissions.
- Submitting a plan ensuring that daily recordkeeping is conducted in the future.
MPCA rules and regulations are designed to protect human health and the environment by limiting pollution emissions and discharges from facilities. When companies do not fully comply with regulatory requirements, the resulting pollution can be harmful to people and the environment.
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