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Nashua Corp. to aid in wood stove swap

By Staff | Dec 14, 2012

NASHUA – Nashua Corp.’s business may not be connected to wood stoves, but the air-pollution fine it has paid to the Environmental Protection Agency will be.

In an unusual settlement, Nashua Corp. has agreed to spend $80,800 to help people swap out old, polluting wood stoves in southern New Hampshire as partial compensation for violations related to reporting about air-pollution equipment and monitoring at its Merrimack plant.

The company will also pay a $20,200 fine.

The company’s plant at 59 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, which employs about 80 people, makes specialty coated products for printing, labels and tickets, and coatings for paper and film products.

The wood stove portion of the settlement comes from the federal pollution agency’s ability to use a “supplemental environmental project” as well as fines for punishment, said David Deegan, spokesman for the EPA’s New England office in Boston.

“It has to be something that is gives an environmental benefit to the area,” said Deegan. “We look at what’s really needed in the area and try to match a benefit to an area.”

Wood stoves made before 1988, predating catalytic converters and other pollution-control devices, are a major contributor to air pollution in the region, particularly around Keene.

The Keene area typically has several air-pollution warning days each winter because of this issue.

The American Lung Association of the Northeast has a long-running program to help pay the cost of upgrading wood stoves.

The Nashua Corp. money will go into this fund, which provides a voucher, typically for $1,000 per household, as an incentive to replace pre-1988 wood stoves. A new wood stove installation usually costs about $3,000.

Similar wood stove swaps have been part of the two earlier EPA settlements, involving Interprint in Pittsfield, Mass., and G&K Services in Manchester.

Nashua Corp. was bought in 2009 by Stamford, Conn.-based Cenveo Inc., which distributes and manages print-related products. The stock and cash transaction was valued at approximately $44.4 million.

The Nashua Corp. Coated Paper Product plant in Merrimack, just north of the Nashua line, is the only area presence left for the company, which was founded in 1848 and whose name still can be seen on millyard buildings downtown. Among other things, Nashua corp. owns the “nashua.com” web name, which is why the city uses “gonashua.com” for its website.

Nashua Corp. is headquartered in Illinois and has operations in California, New Jersey and Tennessee.

The EPA says it conducted a Clean Air compliance inspection in May 2010. According to the settlement, Nashua Corp. makes adhesives, binders and resin material at the plant which fall under national emission standards for miscellaneous organic chemical manufacturing, but it “had failed to comply with the notification and reporting provisions of the regulation.”

The company “has since submitted the required notifications and reports to EPA, and paid the penalty,” EPA said in a statement.

Nashua Corp. did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-6531 or dbrooks@nashua
telegraph.com. Follow Brooks’ blog on Twitter (@GraniteGeek).

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