EPA Fines Conshy Business $36K for Clean Air Act Violations

A Conshohocken Road business has been fined $36,000 for violations pertaining to methanol emissions, monitoring, record keeping and reporting after allegedly producing methanol, a hazardous air pollutant, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Montgomery Chemicals, located at 901 Conshohocken Road, allegedly created the pollutant during its manufacturing of sodium borohydride, a bleaching agent used in the paper industry, according to the EPA.

The company has agreed to correct the cited violations within six months, and will install a new scrubber to control emissions, as required by a previous consent order with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the EPA said.

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According to the EPA, the Clean Air Act requires that industrial facilities closely control and monitor methanol emissions. While human health effects over a long period of time are unknown, workers repeatedly exposed to the pollutant can experience effects such as headaches, sleep disorders, gastrointestinal problems and optic nerve damage.