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Rhode Island Company Fined $52,700 for Clean Air Violations

Release Date: 03/28/2007
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. - March 28, 2007) – The Providence Metallizing Company, Inc. (PMC) of Pawtucket, R.I. has paid a fine and will undertake additional environmental projects to settle EPA allegations of Clean Air Act violations. Specifically, the company paid a cash penalty of $52,700, as well as completing a “supplemental environmental project” worth at least $96,198.

PMC performs spray and dip coating of plastic, metal and glass substrates for various uses such as automobile reflectors, cosmetic packaging, and trophy hardware. The company’s operations involve spray/dip coating operations that emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are components of ground level ozone, or smog.

After an EPA inspection, EPA determined that the company failed to comply with various reporting and work practice requirements. Additionally, EPA claimed that PMC failed to maintain the operating temperature of its thermal oxidizer at or above the minimum temperature established in its permit on five days from Oct. - Dec. 2003. The thermal oxidizer had been necessary for PMC to meet its required emission limits for VOCs. PMC shut down the oxidizer in July 2006 and now complies with its VOC emission limits by eliminating some of its process lines and by using compliant coatings in others.

For its supplemental environmental project, PMC will replace a trichloroethylene-based vapor degreaser at its facility with an aqueous cleaning system. The project should eliminate the use of approximately 7,000 pounds of trichloroethylene per year by PMC’s facility.

More information: Enforcement of clean air regulations in New England (epa.gov/ne/enforcement/air)

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