Settlement requires Radius Recycling to add pollution controls to Oregon shredder

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has reached a settlement with Radius Recycling, formerly named Schnitzer Steel, that includes a requirement for pollution controls to be installed by the end of the year on the company’s automobile shredder at its Portland site at 12005 N. Burgard Rd. The equipment must be fully operational by March 31, 2024. This settlement is based on air quality violations related to the company’s operation of the shredder in Portland.

The company installed the shredder in 2007. Since then, new studies have demonstrated the amount of volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and hazardous air pollutants metal shredders emit is much greater than previously understood, according to the Oregon DEQ.

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“This settlement is part of a pattern of enforcement actions across the U.S. to ensure that metal shredder emissions are properly regulated under the Clean Air Act,” Kieran O’Donnell, Office of Compliance and Enforcement manager, says in a news release announcing the settlement. “Schnitzer Steel’s commitment to install an enclosure and emission controls at its Portland shredder signals a positive change to protect human health and the environment.”

The settlement includes an agreement, a Mutual Agreement and Final Order, between DEQ and the company that established a number of requirements for Radius Recycling:

• paying $500,000 in civil penalties, $400,000 of which will go toward a supplemental environmental project that will benefit air quality near the facility;
• finishing installation of the shredder enclosure and pollution controls by the end of the year and having them fully operational by March 31, 2024;
• submitting an updated air contaminant discharge permit application, including a more rigorous evaluation of emissions called major New Source Review;
• conducting source testing to measure the shredder’s emissions once pollution controls are working; and
• performing a Cleaner Air Oregon risk analysis as a new source.

Once the company submits a complete air quality permit application, DEQ says it will review it and draft a permit that complies with air quality regulations, going through a public process.