Glass Plant Fined for Emissions

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said Owens-Brockway Glass could avoid further penalties by installing environmental controls at its Toano, Va., plant, which supplies bottles to Anheuser-Busch.

The fine is substantial compared to most DEQ penalties for air pollution, according to state environmental officials.

The DEQ normally requires a permit for any plant change that causes a significant increase in emissions.

Owens-Brockway did not expect emissions to go up when the glass plant added electric heaters to its furnaces in 1986, 1991 and 1995, according to a settlement signed by DEQ and company officials last month.

Fueled by oil and gas, the furnaces combine sand, soda ash and limestone to form glass. During tests on the plant's smokestacks in 2001, the DEQ found that sulfur dioxide and other emissions had significantly increased after the installation of the electric heaters.

A statement by Owens-Brockway said that although the plant had an operating permit when it was built in 1980, company officials did not pursue another permit for the upgrades because "electric heaters do not emit air pollutants."

An environmental group says the company should have known better.

"The electric boost is intended to increase production," said Pamela Irwin, clean-air organizer for the Sierra Club's Virginia chapter. "Obviously, if you increase production and don't add environmental control equipment, you're going to have an increase in emissions."

The emissions did not exceed public safety standards, said Jerome Brooks, a DEQ compliance engineer. Brooks said the DEQ did not receive any complaints about the plant from nearby residents.

Sulfur dioxide and other emissions can trigger acid rain and smog and asthma attacks in people, Irwin said. But she added that power plants and paper mills produce much larger amounts of pollution than glass manufacturers.

In the DEQ settlement, Owens-Brockway agreed to apply for an environmental permit by Jan. 24 to install emissions-monitoring equipment within 300 days, and to put in pollution-control devices during the plant's Christmas shutdown later this year.

The DEQ agreed to waive $205,194 in additional fines if the company follows through with the environmental equipment.

Irwin said the improvements come late.

"Why didn't they do this before?" Irwin asked. "The bottom line is, these guys released hundreds of tons of pollutants that they weren't supposed to be releasing."

Company officials have said that the plant normally operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and produces more than two million bottles daily. Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc., a subsidiary of Owens-Illinois, operates several bottle plants in North America.

This is not the first time the company has failed to seek an environmental permit. According to DEQ documents, Owens-Brockway paid a $945 fine in 1990 for failing to get a permit before installing a glass-recycling system at the Toano plant. Hampton Roads (Virginia ) Daily Press