News from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
February 8, 2008
Volume 38, Number 58

 

Contact: Joanna French, Air Quality Management, phone: (302) 739-9402 or Joanna Wilson, Public Affairs, phone: (302) 739-9902

 

DNREC Issues Notice of $10,000 Penalty Assessment to Mountaire Farms of Delmarva for Air Permit Violations

 

Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary John A. Hughes has issued a Notice of Administrative Penalty Assessment and Secretary’s Order to Mountaire Farms of Delmarva for the company’s Selbyville poultry processing plant. The order includes a cash penalty of $10,000 and an additional $1,500 as cost recovery reimbursement to the Department for expenses associated with its investigation.

 

Mountaire Farms of Delmarva owns and operates five boilers and one No. 6 fuel oil storage tank at the Selbyville plant.  Potential emissions of sulfur dioxide from the plant exceed 100 tons per year so the facility must maintain a current operating permit under Delaware’s Title V state operating permit program.

 

However, Mountaire failed to submit its most recent application for renewal of its operating permit by the due date of April 1, 2006 and instead submitted the application on Feb. 7, 2007. The company was notified that its application was neither timely nor complete, and was given 30 days to correct the deficiencies.

 

Due to public notice requirements, the Air Quality Management Section could not issue a renewal permit to the company before the April 1, 2007 expiration date. After being informed of the permit’s impending expiration, Mountaire’s Selbyville facility operated without a valid permit from April 1 through Nov. 30, 2007, for which the company was found to be in violation of Delaware law and Delaware’s air regulations.

 

Mountaire Farms of Delmarva has 30 days to request a public hearing before the order becomes final and payment is due.