State pollution agency fines Red Wing company $12,700

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A Red Wing construction company has been slapped with a $12,700 penalty for solid waste violations at a quarry it operates in Red Wing.

Flueger Construction Co. was using the quarry as a disposal site for demolition debris and municipal garbage, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said.

MPCA staff discovered a solid waste pile 160 feet long by 50 feet wide by 50 feet deep at the site during a March 2007 inspection.

“I didn’t do it on purpose. Flueger’s didn’t do it on purpose,” Barney Flueger, quarry operator, told the Republican Eagle on Tuesday.

Flueger Construction — located at 641 Flueger Court — primarily performs excavation and grading work and is not permitted as a solid waste facility.

“A pile of any size on a site without a permit needs to be addressed,” said Nancy Miller, MPCA public information officer.

Flueger officials have agreed to remove all solid waste from the quarry over the next five years. MPCA officials will check in regularly, Nelson said, to make sure solid waste is properly cleaned up.

“It will be quite a process,” she said.

The company has paid the penalty and completed two supplemental environmental projects totaling $6,200 that benefit the Red Wing Environmental Learning Center and the Red Wing Wildlife League.

When calculating penalties, the MPCA takes into account how the violation affected the environment, whether it was a first violation, and how promptly the violation was reported to authorities.

The agency also attempts to recover the calculated economic benefit gained by failure to comply with environmental laws in a timely manner.

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