The state of Utah sued a natural gas company for violating air quality standards in San Juan County, court records show.
Green Natural Gas Ventures LLC’s gas and helium plant in La Sal is “exposing residents … to air pollutants, which is a violation of Utah law and has an adverse impact on the health and welfare of the public,” the state claimed in a complaint filed April 30 in the Seventh District Court.
GNG Ventures, which is registered in Delaware, violated seven conditions of its operating permit, an inspector from the Utah Division of Air Quality found while conducting an annual inspection in February.
Jason Selch, the company’s vice chairman, said he did not have a comment on Monday.
On Tuesday, Selch wrote to The Tribune that the plant has been closed since December. “A regulatory compliance consultant has been hired and will meet with [the] Utah Department of Air Quality and respond to their requests,” he wrote.
“As far as I am aware,” Selch continued, “there have never been any air quality emissions [violations] at this plant. Just record keeping and reporting has been substandard.”
The plant is “a major source of air pollutants,” according to the complaint, meaning it has the potential to emit 10 or more tons of hazardous air pollutants each year under Utah code.
The state said in the complaint that the company failed to:
Carbon monoxide is most dangerous when emitted indoors, but outdoor emissions can harm people with heart conditions by reducing oxygen flow to their hearts, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Breathing in nitrogen oxides can harm your respiratory system, even contributing to the development of asthma. Nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere can also form smog.
Later in February, DAQ Director Bryce Bird ordered GNG Ventures to immediately take action to attain compliance and to notify the division within 15 days that the company intended to comply.
The company did not respond to those orders. “The Utah DAQ has made numerous attempts to obtain compliance but has been unable, as GNG Ventures has not complied with and ignored requests,” the complaint reads.
The state is entitled to $74,000 in civil penalties so far, the complaint says. The state can collect up to $10,000 per day for each violation, and as of the April 30 filing, GNG Ventures had committed at least 12 violations, the state claimed.
“The violations are continuous in nature,” the complaint reads, “and the penalties continue to accrue and will be proved more fully at trial.”
