State fines Pasco company for lack of air permit

PASCO, Wash. -- The state Department of Ecology has fined a Pasco company $10,000 for building two chemical plants without getting an air quality permit.

The agency says the permit would have required air pollution-control equipment for the plants, which would have helped prevent several tons of pollutants from being released into the air.

Two Rivers Terminal LLC built the plants in the last couple of years. But Ecology didn't learn of them until early this year. The departments of Ecology and Agriculture inspected them in March.

The plants produce magnesium sulfate, or Epsom salts, and calcium nitrate for use as fertilizers.

A Department of Ecology spokeswoman, Jani Gilbert, says that without the pollution-control equipment, the plants released pollutants that included an estimated 11 tons of sulfuric acid mist per year.

Acid mist is corrosive and can cause breathing difficulties.