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3M doing it right with the DNR
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| Jim McSweeney stands in front of a slitter, a machine that slices the polyproplylene product into smaller rolls. Trimmings from the process are baled and recycled. The business was recently recognized for its
environmental and recycling efforts.
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By Kay Kruse-Stanton
Sometimes business and government go through frustrating times, where each is trying to get the other to do what it wants. The relationship could use some reinventing. It’s happening here in the Chippewa Valley.
Menomonie’s 3M facility is one of seven businesses in the state exploring a new relationship with the Department of Natural Resources: a working partnership.
In October 2002, 3M-Menomonie signed an agreement with the DNR under the state’s Environmental Cooperation Pilot Program. The agreement commits 3M-Menomonie to achieving higher environmental standards than required by regulations, and in turn will allow the company more flexibility in the permitting process.
The Menomonie plant is the only Chippewa Valley participant in the pilot program. The program, created in 1997, called for as many as 10 companies to be enrolled for five years, with the option of continuing for another five years.
Mark Harings, the environmental assistance coordinator at Eau Claire’s DNR office, said the DNR wanted 3M-Menomonie in the program because of the facility’s history of environmental concern.
“We were looking at companies willing to or currently going beyond superior environmental performance,” he said.
3-M Menomonie has a history of environmental stewardship. In 2001, the plant received two awards for its environmental commitment:
— The Governor’s Award for Hazardous Waste Reduction was for reducing waste produced from a plating process in the plant by 112 tons, resulting in disposal cost savings of $128,000.
— The John Brogan Environmental Achievement Award is the DNR’s highest form of recognition. It is presented to one business, local government or nonprofit organization each year to reward outstanding achievements in environmental protection.
As part of the Environmental Cooperation Pilot Program, 3M-Menomonie formed a citizens’ group to review the facility’s progress toward meeting the higher goals set under the agreement. One of the members is “Ed” Clark Smith, a university teacher who also serves on the Menomonie City Council. He said group members were impressed with the facility’s history of surpassing past environmental goals, and its progress toward even higher levels of environmental protection.
“I think 3M has even impressed themselves with what they can do,” Smith said. “They’ve ended up saving money on their recycling costs. They send very little to the landfill; they recycle almost everything. Their air emissions reports were so good they surprised us. I’m really impressed.”
The Menomonie facility has more than 403,000 square feet in production, office and associated warehouse space under one roof, and employs around 500 people. The plant houses nine manufacturing operations and one research and development project. In the past, each of those processes was under its own separate permitting process, with individual standards for air emissions and other environmental concerns. And in the past, 3M-Menomonie’s pollution emissions have been well below the limit set by those permits.
Under the new agreement between 3M-Menomonie and the DNR, the plant will have one permit for the entire facility, called a Title V air quality permit. The draft of that permit is more than 100 pages, according to Mike Wendt, an environmental health and safety specialist at 3M-Menomonie. Instead of pollution level standards for each division, the facility will be regarded as one unit, with a limit on emissions for the entire plant. Gaining the permit requires working closely with local, state and federal officials and agencies, Wendt said.
3M’s corporate philosophy promotes reducing waste and operating as efficiently as possible, said Jim McSweeney, 3M-Menomonie plant manager. The facility’s staff searches for ways to reformulate products or change manufacturing processes to eliminate waste and pollution as much as possible.
“To be competitive in a global market, we have to be more efficient,” McSweeney said.
Efficiency comes from more than making the most of resources; in this case, it also comes from saving time in the permitting process, McSweeney said. And that’s the big benefit of this program for 3M-Menomonie.
The company will be held to all regulations and standards set by local, state and federal agencies. The advantage to 3M-Menomonie will be in the amount of time required for permits for construction of new facilities inside the plant, or establishing new product lines.
3M-Menomonie will be able to have 3M engineers do much of the work required in the permitting process, rather than relying on DNR personnel to research and write the information. Information will still be subject to approval by the regulatory agencies, but the company will realize great savings in permit application time, and the DNR great savings in personnel hours, Wendt said. A permitting process that might have taken 180 days in the past could take as little as five, if all goes well, McSweeney said.
“It’s a big time savings for the DNR, and we can meet our customers’ requirements faster — and that’s good business today,” he said.
Much of 2003 was spent preparing and reviewing the facility-wide Title V air permit application. Representatives of the DNR and 3M-Menomonie are now meeting to work out details of what 3M will gain, and how the two will work together to provide more flexibility in the permitting process. The goal, according to 3M-Menomonie, is to have the Title V air permit approved by the end of the second quarter of 2004.
The DNR and 3M-Menomonie will monitor the program to determine how the arrangement works for both business and regulatory agencies. Dave Weitz, public affairs manager at Eau Claire’s DNR office, said the DNR has high hopes for the program.
“If it works, if it’s the kind of thing we hope it is, the program could expand,” he said. “The program shows a good deal of promise for DNR to provide flexibility for companies that have either already gone beyond what is required of them, or companies that have indicated a willingness to do so.”
3M-Menomonie shares that optimism.
“We can learn some things from being partners, and still help the environment,” McSweeney said.
Kay Kruse-Stanton is a freelance writer from Menomonie. Contact the Chippewa Valley Business Report at (715) 723-5515, or through www.chippewavalleybusinessreport.com.
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