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The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (“ADEM”) and Alabama Pigment Company, LLC, (“APC”) entered into an April 9th Consent Order (“CO”) addressing alleged violations of an air permit. See No. 19-_______-CAP.

The CO provides that APC owns and operates a hematite, magnetite, and lime processing facility (“Facility”) in Bibb County, Alabama.

The Facility is operated under the authority of an Air Permit No. 4010001-X007 (“Permit”).

The permit is stated to authorize the operation of a 60 TPH magnetite/basic slag drying, screening, conveying, and bagging circuit with baghouse and storage silos to produce magnetite, subject to certain limitations and conditions.

Proviso No. 16 of the Permit states in part:

. . .Dust emissions shall not be allowed to escape from enclosures or through seals due to holes or cracks in the enclosure.

ADEM is stated to have conducted an announced inspection of the Facility on May 17, 2018, and in a letter identified the following:

. . .Emissions were escaping capture from the discharge end of the dryer and holes in the ductwork of the plant.

A warning letter regarding the referenced emissions escape was provided to APC. APC is stated to have provided to ADEM a written response noting the source of the escaped emissions and indicating a seal would be replaced.

An unannounced inspection was undertaken by ADEM on January 16, 2019, and the following was allegedly noted:

• Emissions were escaping capture from holes in the ductwork of the plant

A Notice of Violation was provided to the company to which it responded noting that replacing the ductwork had been difficult to undertake due to scheduling, construction issues, and ability to find an engineer.

APC neither admits nor denies ADEM’s contentions.

A civil penalty of $6,000 is assessed.

A copy of the CO can be found here.