Berkshire Power Company, Clean Air Act Violation, Massachusetts 2023

Berkshire Power Company, the owner of the Berkshire Power Plant in Agawam, Massachusetts, and its management company Power Plant Management Services, Inc., have been sentenced for tampering with air pollution emissions equipment and submitting false information to environmental and energy regulators.

United States District Court Judge Mark G. Mastrioanni sentenced Berkshire Power Company to pay $2.75 million in criminal fines for violations of the Clean Air Act and to make a $750,000 community service payment to the American Lung Association to fund a program for the replacement of polluting wood burning stoves in western Massachusetts.

Power Plant Management Services, Inc. was sentenced to pay $500,000 in criminal fines for violations of the Clean Air Act and Federal Power Act, and to make a $250,000 community service payment to the American Lung Association’s wood stove change-out program.

In addition to the criminal fines, Berkshire Power Company and Power Plant Management Services, Inc. have agreed to pay $3,042,563 plus interest to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in civil penalties and disgorgement for their misrepresentations to ISO-New England regarding the Plant’s availability to produce power.

The companies pleaded guilty in May 2016 to felony charges that they violated and conspired to violate the federal Clean Air Act. The charges arose from air pollution monitoring equipment tampering and related false emissions reporting between 2009 and 2011.

According to documents filed in federal court, Berkshire Power Company engaged Power Plant Management Services, Inc. to manage the Plant, including overseeing day-to-day operations and maintenance, and to act as the owner’s representative for the Plant. A Power Plant Management Services, Inc. employee served as the Plant General Manager and as Berkshire Power Company’s on-site representative.

The tampering was accomplished by intentionally biasing the Plant’s Continuous Emissions Monitoring System so it would show lower emissions levels than were actually being produced by the Plant. Berkshire Power Company and Power Plant Management Services, Inc. then used this inaccurate data in filing required emissions reports with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP).

The purpose of the tampering was to avoid lost revenues that would have resulted from reducing power production to stay within the Plant’s air pollution emissions limits, or by taking the Plant out of service to implement needed repairs of the Plant’s pollution control and other equipment.

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