Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a civil penalty of $6,777 to Ninkasi Holding Company on Feb. 9 for Clean Water Act violations at its Whiteaker facilities. Ninkasi’s Clean Water Act permit requires monitoring for various pollutants in its stormwater discharges four times per year, and Ninkasi failed to take any samples at its Blair Boulevard discharge point, and took only three of the required samples at its Polk Street discharge point. Ninkasi can appeal the penalty, pay it or offset it by implementing a “supplemental environmental project.” Examples of such projects include stream restoration and replacement of pavement with rain gardens to improve water quality. Nikos Ridge of Ninkasi tells EW he is applying for the environmental project option. Schnitzer Steel also committed Clean Water Act monitoring violations during the most recent monitoring year. Schnitzer accepted an “expedited enforcement offer” from DEQ and paid a penalty of $1,600 pursuant to that offer.