Oregon DEQ Fines Aluminum Smelter

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has issued a $1,700 penalty to Northwest Aluminum Specialties Inc., which runs an aluminum smelting and refining plant in The Dalles, Ore., for an air quality permit violation.

The facility operates under a DEQ-issued Oregon Title V permit, which allows it to discharge air contaminants from the plant within a strict set of guidelines and limits.

The permit requires Northwest Aluminum to submit to DEQ an annual report summarizing pollutant emission and other pertinent information about its air quality permit by Feb. 15 each year. DEQ did not receive the company’s 2010 annual report until March 3, 2011 -- more than two weeks after its deadline. DEQ had issued the company a warning letter about the same violation the previous year, when it did not receive Northwest Aluminum’s 2009 annual report until April 24, 2010 – more than two months past due.