Saint-Gobain Reaches Settlement with Federal Government to Reduce Emissions

Saint-Gobain Containers has reached a settlement with the federal government to install pollution control equipment at all of its plants, including the one in Port Allegany.

The cost to reduce emissions in all the plants will be about $112 million. Cynthia Giles of the US EPA says the emissions will be reduced by 50 percent.

Saint-Gobain has agreed to implement pollution controls, including the installation of the first-ever selective catalytic reduction system at a container glass plant in the U.S. Saint-Gobain will also install continuous emission monitoring systems at all of their glass plants.

Also as part of the settlement, Saint-Gobain has agreed to pay a $2.25 million civil penalty to resolve its alleged violations of the Clean Air Act’s new source review regulations. Of the $2.25 million civil penalty, Saint-Gobain will pay $1.15 million to the United States and $1.1 million to the 10 states and two local regulatory agencies that joined the case.

The EPA and US Department of Justice announced the settlement in a conference call with reporters this afternoon.