Air pollution leads to fine for Volvo truck plant - Roanoke Times
Air pollution leads to fine for Volvo truck plant
A Pulaski County plant that manufactures heavy duty trucks has been cited by state regulators for an air pollution violation.
Volvo Group North America will pay a fine of $24,890 in an agreement reached with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
In May, officials at the Dublin plant notified DEQ of a malfunction with a concentrator and regenerative thermal oxidizer that allowed production lines to bypass air pollution control equipment, according to agency records.
A consent order recently posted to DEQ’s website states the problem lasted for three days and resulted in the release of volatile organic compounds.
An employee at the Volvo truck manufacturing facility uses a lift to guide a truck cab on the plant assembly line.
An estimated 3.68 tons of uncontrolled emissions were released, which DEQ said represented a serious potential for harm to the environment.
“Volvo plant management did not know the seriousness of operating without controls,” the consent order stated, but it took prompt action to shut down all manufacturing immediately after the problem was discovered, and later for a two-week evaluation period.
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It is a violation of the plant’s state air permit to operate without devices that remove volatile organic compounds from exhaust.
Volvo has corrected the problem, according to the consent order, and has taken action to prevent it from happening again. A call to a company official was not returned Thursday.
The company’s 1.6 million-square-foot New River Valley assembly plant, located on a 300-acre site in Dublin, is the largest Volvo truck manufacturing facility in the world, according to the company’s website.
Laurence Hammack (540) 981-3239
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