Virginia agrees to penalty for permit violations
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The Virginia Public Utilities Commission has agreed to pay the state of Minnesota $60,000 for alleged air and water quality violations.
The permit violations allegedly happened at the northeastern Minnesota city's wood biomass-burning electrical generating plant.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said Tuesday the commission has agreed to make operating changes and apply for new air permits.
The MPCA says monitoring reports indicated air emissions and water discharges were higher than allowed limits.
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The agency says the commission also failed to perform a required emission test, conduct an audit and submit reports on time. The agency also says the facility violated cooling water discharge temperature limits on 25 occasions.
The MPCA says the commission has taken some corrective action, including minimizing wood boiler and airborne dust emissions and conducting a noise survey.
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Information from: Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthsuperior.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)