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Skowhegan, Maine Paper Company to Pay $78,000 Penalty for Clean Air Act Violations

Release Date: 09/24/04
Contact Information:

Contact: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office (617-918-1008)

For Immediate Release: Sept. 24, 2004 Release # 04-09-11

BOSTON – A paper company in Skowhegan, Maine, has agreed to pay a $78,000 penalty to settle claims by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it violated the Clean Air Act.

The consent agreement filed this week alleges that the S.D. Warren Company violated the Clean Air Act from 1986 to summer 2004. In 1986 it modified a pulp and paper mill boiler without meeting the required sulfur dioxide limits of the agency’s new source performance standards.

According to EPA, S.D. Warren modified its boiler in a manner that triggered the sulfur dioxide standards for boilers over 250 million BTUs. The company received a permit to operate the boiler below that capacity and installed computerized controls to limit the capacity. The regulations, however, require that the boiler have a permanent physical limit on capacity to avoid the sulfur dioxide standards.

As a result of an EPA order on June 8 of this year, S.D. Warren has since made permanent changes limiting the amount of oil that can be fed into the boiler.

“Although S.D. Warren used its boiler below capacity, it was large enough to trigger certain air pollution standards,” said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. "Companies must be responsible about meeting environmental laws that will improve air quality.”

Related Information:
Air Enforcement
Clean Air Act