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EPA FILES COMPLAINT IN FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT AGAINST SACRAMENTO WOOD FURNITURE MAKER FOR CLEAN AIR ACT VIOLATIONS

Release Date: 4/12/2000
Contact Information: Leo Kay, U.S. EPA, 415/744-2201

     SAN FRANCISCO   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint in federal District Court in Sacramento today against a Sacramento wood furniture maker for alleged federal Clean Air Act violations.
                   
     The complaint alleges that in 1994 The Michaels Company failed to apply proper air pollution controls when it expanded paint spray booth operations at its facility at 5849 88th Street.  The federal Clean Air Act requires businesses that increase their emissions to apply the best available pollution controls to minimize emissions.

     The EPA is seeking a civil penalty of up to $25,000 per day for each violation before January 30, 1997, and up to $27,500 per day for each violation after January 30, 1997.  The EPA also seeks to require Michaels to install air pollution control equipment that complies with the Clean Air Act's emission limits.    

     "For the sake of public health, all companies in the Sacramento area must do everything they can to limit their air emissions.  Unfortunately, The Michaels Company has been out of compliance for a number of years," said Deborah Jordan, acting director of EPA's regional Air Division.  

     In 1996, The Michaels Company installed a carbon adsorption system on one of its paint spray booths to limit emissions, but the system performed poorly.  A second emission reduction system installed in 1997 required by permit to control 95 percent of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from all spray booth operation at the facility also failed to limit reductions.

    Wood furniture coating operations emit volatile organic compounds, which are precursors to ozone, or smog, formation.  The Sacramento area is a severe nonattainment area for ozone.