The Washington Department of Ecology, Spokane, reported on June 21 that it has fined Pacific Northwest Solutions, a Pasco fertilizer manufacturer, $25,500 for operating a mobile fertilizer reactor without an air quality permit. The penalty is the third in the past two years for the company, which was previously fined $5,000 in 2019 and again in 2020, both times for failing to properly test their equipment to ensure it met air quality emissions standards.
The $25,500 penalty was issued after an Ecology inspector found a Pacific Northwest Solutions’s mobile fertilizer reactor operating without a permit on March 8, 2021, at a site near Moses Lake. An investigation found that the reactor produced a total of 650 tons of ammonium polyphosphate liquid fertilizer over three days.
Pacific Northwest Solutions can appeal the penalty within 30 days.