Kingsburg glass plant is part of $70 million pollution settlement

Guardian Industries and federal officials have reached a $70 million Clean Air Act settlement requiring the glass-manufacturing company to install new pollution-reducing equipment at its flat-glass plant in Kingsburg and other plants in Iowa, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.

A proposed consent decree filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for Eastern Michigan is now open for a 30-day public comment period before it can receive final approval by the court.

Under the agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice, Guardian will invest at least $70 million at its plants to bring their equipment into compliance with regulations governing its emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and sulfuric acid mist. The company also will pay a civil penalty of $312,000.

In the Valley, Guardian has agreed to contribute $150,000 to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District for a program to help low-income residents convert wood-burning stoves and appliances to cleaner-burning ones. The measures in the settlement are expected to reduce NOx emissions in the Valley by about 35,000 pounds each year, the EPA estimated.

The alleged Clean Air Act violations involved the company making major modifications to its furnaces that increased air pollution at the flat-glass plants. Flat glass is used in homes and office buildings for windows and for automobile windshields.

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 3:34 PM with the headline "Kingsburg glass plant is part of $70 million pollution settlement."