SCP MANAGEMENT, LLC Fined $200K for Hiding Air Pollution Violations

SCP MANAGEMENT, LLC deliberately concealed years of air pollution violations from the Environmental Protection Agency, allowing unchecked emissions of cancer-linked toxins to spew from its New Hartford facility. The company pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of failing to report required environmental data under the Clean Air Act, admitting it ignored federal monitoring mandates designed to protect public health.

U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly and EPA Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent in Charge Tyler Amon confirmed the plea, which was entered before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport. Immediately after the plea, Judge Underhill sentenced SCP MANAGEMENT, LLC to pay a $200,000 fine—cash extracted for a pattern of environmental deception that stretched from 2008 through 2013.

The company, formerly known as Old Syntac, operated a specialty adhesive film manufacturing plant at 29 Industrial Park Road in New Hartford. Its production process relied on three coating lines that emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including hazardous air pollutants suspected of causing cancer and other severe health effects. Despite federal requirements, it failed to report critical malfunctions in its pollution control systems for years.

Starting in 2008, Old Syntac used two catalytic oxidizers to burn off VOCs. The Clean Air Act’s New Source Performance Standards required continuous monitoring of gas temperatures before and after each catalyst bed, with mandatory reporting every six months. Any three-hour period where temperature differentials dropped below 80 percent of baseline test levels had to be reported to the EPA. SCP MANAGEMENT, LLC reported nothing.

Internal paper temperature charts—reviewed daily—showed repeated instances where oxidizer performance fell below legal thresholds. Catalyst block tests further indicated the system was failing to destroy all VOCs. Yet not a single report was filed. The company kept silent while pollution controls decayed and emissions went unverified.

In April 2013, Old Syntac sold its assets to a new entity, New Syntac, and rebranded as SCP MANAGEMENT, LLC—living on in name and liability. The EPA, deprived of vital data, was blocked from investigating or demanding corrective action. Now, with a guilty plea locked in, the company pays $200,000 in fines—penalty paid, but the air paid the price first.