The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (“ADEM”) and Acme Brick Company (“ABC”) entered into a July 28th Consent Order (“CO”) addressing alleged violations of an Air Permit. See Consent Order No. XXXXXXX.
The CO provides that ABC operates a brick manufacturing facility in Leeds, Alabama.
The facility’s operation is stated to include a tunnel kiln (“TK-1”) with a Dry Lime Injection Fabric Filter ("DIFF"). Further, the facility is stated to operate pursuant to the authority of a Clean Air Act Major Source Operating Permit (“Permit”).
ABC is stated to have submitted a semi-annual monitoring report on March 29, 2024, covering the reporting period from August 11, 2023 to February 10, 2024. The report is stated to have listed 19 instances from January 1, 2024 to February 10, 2024 where the lime feed rate was below the lime feed rate determined in the most recent performance test.
As a follow-up to a May 13, 2024, ADEM Notice of Violation, ABC submitted records of 10 lime feed rate deviations that occurred between February 11, 2024 and May 13, 2024. The deviations would later be included in the semi-annual monitoring report covering the reporting period from February 11, 2024 to August 10, 2024.
ABC is also stated to have submitted on September 17, 2024, a semi-annual monitoring report covering the reporting period from February 11, 2024 to August 10, 2024 that listed 18 instances, including the 10 instances listed in Paragraph 9 of the CO, where the lime feed rate was below the lime feed rate determined in the most recent performance test.
The deviations in the reports are stated to have not been reported to ADEM as required by General Permit Proviso 21 (b ).
ABC is stated to have submitted a semi-annual annual monitoring report on March 4 covering the reporting period from August 11, 2024 to February 10, 2025. The report listed 71 instances where the lime feed rate was below the lime feed rate calculated in the most recent performance test. They were stated to have not been reported to ADEM as required by the previously referenced General Permit Proviso 21 (b ).
In response to a Notice of Violation, ABC stated in part:
- Low lime feed events are operational issues ... This would not be an upset condition, but rather a deviation.
- [The Permittee] has indeed had issues with lime feed because of an apparent poor design of the lime hose. [The Permittee] has made concerted efforts to mitigate this with third-party inspections and repairs, regular preventative maintenance, and troubleshooting ( changing the angle of the feed ramp, changing lime supply etc.).
ABC neither admits nor denies ADEM’s contentions.
A civil penalty of $16,000.00 is assessed.
A copy of the CO can be downloaded here.
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