Dragon Products fines, consent pacts approved
Two state Board of Environmental Protection consent agreements with Dragon Products Co have been approved, one involving a $12,300 fine for air emissions violations at the cement maker’s Thomaston plant in 2004 and 2005.
A separate agreement, including a $1,860 fine for a violation in Kennebunk, was approved Thursday at a BEP hearing in Augusta.
Both consent agreements were unanimously accepted by the board, according to Terry Hanson, administrative assistant to the board. Eight members of the 10-member board voted, she said.
The violations at the Thomaston plant included excess downtime on the continuous opacity monitor, which measures the amount of visual impairment from air emissions, said Kurt Tidd of the Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Air Quality.
The bureau looked at seven quarters from 2004 and 2005, he said.
During three quarters in 2005, the company had 9.49 days of excess continuous opacity downtime. Various periods of excess opacity emissions were in violation in the clinker cooler, cement kiln system, and pre-grinding and finish mills during 2004. Of those violations, the highest number of violations cited was 72 (six- minute blocks) in the pre-grinding mill.
Tidd quantified the measure saying there are 240 six-minute blocks per day.
In the Kennebunk consent agreement, the cement maker was fined for a July 15, 2005, incident at Kennebunk Sewer District wastewater treatment facility.
A department staffer saw a Dragon Cement truck driver rinsing concrete from the truck chute onto the ground from where it flowed into a tidal tributary of the Mousam River.
According to Tidd, Dragon Products has paid both of the fines in full.
Published under Cement News
