(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Manufacturer failed to keep records of emissions compliance, DNR says [1]
['Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- July']
Date: 2022-07-13
A manufacturing plant in Perry repeatedly failed to record its use of certain equipment and whether it was emitting visible smoke, making it impossible to know if it was complying with air emissions requirements, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Wiese Industries evolved from a single blacksmith shop in Perry in 1899 and has been owned by a Canadian company since 2003, according to its website. The company uses an array of metal-working machines and ovens to make products to help farmers till their soil.
The company is not required to sample the emissions from those machines and ovens but must limit their operation to a certain number of hours per day, said Jeff Theobald, an environmental specialist for the DNR who has inspected the Perry facility.
Those hours-of-operation limits are set by the DNR to ensure the company isn’t excessively polluting the air.
“Wiese failed to maintain required records, and records are a fundamental means to confirm compliance with air quality requirements at the facility,” according to a recent DNR order that fined the company $3,000.
There is a furnace that is limited to 15 hours per day and welding equipment limited to 21 hours, an inspection report from 2021 noted.
Further, someone at the plant is required to check the exhaust stacks on top of the building for visible smoke at least once each day, Theobald said.
“They had a lot of issues with their recordkeeping,” he said.
The series of events that led to the DNR’s recent fine began in 2016, when someone noticed smoke exhaust coming from the facility, which is located several blocks north of the city’s downtown corridor.
Theobald is trained to determine a smoke’s opacity by sight, and his inspection report said it was 45%. The limit is 40%.
The smoke was the result of oil burning from unspecified parts as they were heated by an oven. The company later installed equipment to wash the oil from the parts before they reached the oven.
Theobald also noted at the time that the company had failed to contact the DNR’s Air Quality Bureau when it planned to install or remove equipment, which could require new limitations to control emissions. He issued a notice of violation to Wiese, one of four in the past six years.
Theobald documented similar failures to apprise the bureau of changes in 2017, 2019 and 2021, along with spotty records of the equipment’s operation.
The last inspection report in July 2021 noted deficient recordkeeping of three ovens, a furnace, welders and other equipment, along with an exhaust stack that was constructed to about one-third the height that was required by the DNR. Stack-height requirements ensure particulate matter dissipates sufficiently before coming into contact with people in town.
As part of a recent agreement with the DNR, Wiese agreed to obtain required permits when adding or modifying equipment that has the potential to pollute the air, to maintain better records and to pay the fine.
Theobald said the company has put a different employee in charge of the recordkeeping task.
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