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Two Industrial Plants Stand Out For Dirty Air Citations

SEATTLE - When it comes to air pollution citations and fines, two companies stand out from the rest in the Northwest. That's according to an investigation by public radio and the non-profit Investigate West. Both penalized companies say they've made major progress in cleaning up their acts.

Over the past five years, a pair of Northwest companies racked up more citations than any other for air pollution and recordkeeping violations. It's around 100 each.

The Verallia glass manufacturing plant in Seattle. Photo by Tom Banse
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The Verallia glass manufacturing plant in Seattle. Photo by Tom Banse

The associated fines total nearly $1 million over the five years in the case of Verallia, a glass bottle and jar maker located in Seattle's industrial area. Verallia used to be known as Saint-Gobain, the name of its French parent firm.

A statement from the company says it has installed what it calls "innovative" emissions control equipment on a glass melting furnace. Puget Sound Clean Air Agency compliance director Laurie Halvorson says the scrubber should help the current problem.

"They do not have complex emissions controls. They rely on operational controls," she says. "So that's part of how they can run into issues. If those operational controls are not working real well, they can run into regulatory problems."

Meanwhile, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency fined the Hampton Lumber mill in the Northwest Washington town of Darrington nearly $250,000 over five years. Hampton's CEO says the problems with a polluting boiler largely have been fixed, and the Clean Air Agency agrees. The number of fines issued to Portland-based Hampton has slowed to a trickle.

Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network

Interactive Map - NPR's Poisoned Places series

The plant accumulated $962,600 in air pollution fines over the past five years. Photo by Tom Banse
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The plant accumulated $962,600 in air pollution fines over the past five years. Photo by Tom Banse

In depth coverage from InvestigateWest

Click on the state to link to all Northwest air pollution violators:

Washington

Oregon

Idaho

Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network

Correspondent Tom Banse is an Olympia-based reporter with more than three decades of experience covering Washington and Oregon state government, public policy, business and breaking news stories. Most of his career was spent with public radio's Northwest News Network, but now in semi-retirement his work is appearing on other outlets.