Operation fined $80K for emissions violations

New Hampshire-based Plourde Sand and Gravel Inc. has been fined $80,000 for not obtaining proper air emission permits for diesel generators it operated in two different cities.

The Concord (N.H.) Monitor reports that Plourde Sand and Gravel has a history of environmental violations, including failing to keep proper records, installing generators without permission and being unresponsive to government requests, according to Allen Brooks, senior assistant attorney general for New Hampshire.

As Brooks tells The Concord Monitor, the company operated more than an allowed number of diesel generators at its offices and that several generators were not registered. Brooks also says some generators were not operated properly, with exhaust stacks pointed downward or blocked with a “rain cap.”

Under a settlement signed last month, Plourde Sand and Gravel was fined $80,000, with $20,000 of that amount to be suspended if the company does not commit a violation over a three-year period. Plourde Sand and Gravel also must pay overdue fees for fines, which Brooks says amounts to about $18,000.