U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Spectro Alloys Corporation reached a settlement requiring Spectro Alloys to upgrade air pollution control equipment to reduce air emissions at the company?s facility in Rosemount, Minnesota. The upgrades, which EPA estimates will cost at least $1 million to install, will help protect the environment and public health in the surrounding area by reducing air emissions. The company has also agreed to pay a $110,000 civil penalty to resolve its alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.
EPA issued a Notice of Violation to Spectro Alloys Corporation in June 2020 alleging its Rosemount facility exceeded emission limits from an uncontrolled furnace hearth stack, failed to maintain a closed vent system at their scrap dryer and failed to properly monitor lime injection at the dryer baghouse. EPA has now filed a Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) and entered into an Administrative Consent Order (ACO) with Spectro Alloys Corporation to resolve these alleged CAA violations.
The ACO requires Spectro to install a new baghouse, which will control all emissions from the furnace including the hearth, upgrade the dryer baghouse, install new capture hoods and make additional improvements to the dryer closed vent system, increase emissions monitoring, and make improvements to the facility?s operations, maintenance, and monitoring plan. The CAFO requires Spectro Alloys Corporation to pay a $110,000 penalty to the federal government.