Van Hollen
OCONTO FALLS, Wis. (Legal Newsline) - Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has announced that an Oconto Falls, Wis.-based tissue-making facility has agreed to pay $85,000 to settle claims under Wisconsin's air pollution laws.
ST Paper LLC, the owner and operator of the tissue-making facility, is required to obtain and follow a permit that will control emissions of pollutants from the facility as part of the agreement.
The complaint against ST Paper charged it was operating in violation of its permit through failure to maintain records or required weekly tissue machine filter inspections and replacements and maintain records of physical stack parameters. The complaint also alleges that the company failed to comply with a stack diameter limit or to submit semi-annual monitoring reports and identify these and other deviations from permit requirements in 2006 and 2007. The company also failed to pay permit fees in 2003 and 2004.
The Oconto Falls facility is in a mixed land use area, which makes the identification and resolution of violations particularly important.
ST Paper, upon discovery of the violations by the Department of Natural Resources during an inspections, promptly took steps to correct the violations, retaining a new consultant to ensure continued environmental compliance.
The complaint also notes that ST Paper has made environmental reporting the direct responsibility of its facility manager.