Every Minnesotan expects healthy air, clean water, and sustainable lands. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is responsible for ensuring more than 84,000 permitted facilities, and other regulated communities in the state comply with rules and regulations designed to protect the environment and human health.
Whether it is a local waste water treatment plant or a manufacturing facility, the MPCA inspects permitted facilities, investigates public complaints, and reviews required reports and files to ensure standards are being met.
Providing assistance
The MPCA provides technical assistance and training to help permitted facilities and regulated communities meet their requirements. The agency works cooperatively with any permitted facility to prevent pollution and avoid future permit violations.
Holding violators accountable
When environmental rules and regulations are violated, the resulting pollution can be harmful to people and the environment. Enforcement actions may include warnings, field citations, administrative penalty orders (APOs), stipulation agreements (STIPs), and consent decrees.
The MPCA’s enforcement actions are necessary to hold the regulated community accountable and achieve compliance with regulations. Foremost, the MPCA wants to help avoid future permit violations.
Enforcing with transparency
The MPCA expects regulated parties to remain in compliance with permit and regulatory requirements that directly protect human health and the environment. To preserve the public’s trust in the enforcement process, the MPCA provides transparency on enforcement actions taken within agency program areas.
Enforcement reports and announcements
The MPCA releases mid-year and end-of-year enforcement reports that summarize closed violation cases.
MPCA enforcement actions with penalties
Interactive charts showing the number of enforcement cases with penalties each year, sorted by case type and by program.
News releases
In addition to summary reports, the MPCA routinely announces specific enforcement actions.
- U.S. Steel’s Keetac facility in Keewatin has paid a $17,550 civil penalty to the MPCA for its failure to prevent sediment from washing into an adjacent wetland at Keetac’s facility on multiple occasions and failure to report the incidents in a timely manner. (12/30/2020)
- The MPCA cited the business based on inspections conducted this past summer and after receiving a written complaint. In addition to the civil penalty, the business has completed several corrective actions, including designing a permanent stormwater treatment system for the site. (12/16/2020)
- Crown Cork & Seal, a company that makes packaging products, has agreed to pay a $60,173 civil penalty to the MPCA for air quality violations at its manufacturing facility in Owatonna. (10/14/2020)
- River Country Cooperative has paid a $15,988 civil penalty to the MPCA for petroleum storage tank violations at its facility in South St. Paul. (10/14/2020)
- Martin Zuponcic (Cook, Minn.) has paid a $19,325 civil penalty to the MPCA for a series of hazardous waste violations at SurTec, Inc., a former chrome-plating business in Eveleth. (09/30/2020)
Enforcement concern or complaint?
Call the MPCA if you have concerns about local air pollution/quality, water runoff, or hazardous waste: 651-296-6300
Or online: Citizen Complaint form.
FAQs
Answers to frequently asked questions about compliance and enforcement of environmental rules in Minnesota.
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