Buffalo Lake Energy LLC has agreed to pay a $285,000 fine and stop polluting after the state said the company violated limits on water and air pollutants, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said on Friday.
The facility began producing ethanol in Fairmont, about 150 miles southwest of Minneapolis, in June 2008. The company used an unauthorized wastewater treatment system whose discharge into Center Creek violated limits on toxicity to aquatic organisms; they also failed to report spills and unauthorized discharges, the MPCA said. Buffalo Lake Energy also violated its air pollution limits, namely particulates and nitrogen oxides, from fall 2008 to April 2009, the MPCA said. That month, looser limits on its air permit enabled the facility to come into compliance. Read the full news release here.
