This case is one of the first two cases enforcing the National VOC Standards for Architectural Coatings (40 C.F.R. Part 59). This regulation regulates the amount of VOCs in architectural coatings as they are manufactured. The regulation allows facilities to comply by either manufacturing coatings that are in compliance with the VOC content limits, or by paying an annual exceedance fee calculated based on the amount of VOC in excess of the regulatory limit.
In order to come into compliance, Poly-Carb paid a late exceedance fee for the coatings that were the subject of the enforcement action and then reformulated its coatings for future compliance. The BEN portion of the penalty calculation was made based on the exceedance fee, rather than the reformulation costs