Sanimax facility in South St. Paul issued $55,000 fine for air permit violations

A permit violation for a facility in South St. Paul has resulted in a $55,000 fine being issued.

According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Sanimax USA LLC failed to seek a required major air permit amendment and conduct air emissions modeling before making changes to its pollution control equipment systems.

The citation comes after a May 2023 inspection by the MPCA, which confirmed the company had taken a piece of pollution control equipment required by the permit to control emissions out of service.

The company instead routed the emissions to a different type of control equipment, which was not permitted. The MPCA said Sanimax also failed to conduct air quality modeling before making the changes in 2019.

In addition to the fine, the facility is required to put the required pollution control equipment back into operation, which the MPCA said was done in September of 2023.

They will also need to submit a plan to ensure future projects and plans will be evaluated so modeling requirements will be complete when needed, and another plan to ensure that daily monitoring is conducted and pollution control equipment operates within permitted limits.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has reached out to Sanimax for comment on the citation and will update this article if a response is given.