A lawsuit was filed in federal court against a Southeast Texas plant over what's being called unlawful air pollution.
It claims The Woodville Pellets Plant has been out of compliance with the clean air act since it was built more than seven years ago.
Patrick Anderson with the Environmental integrity project says the company originally claimed they were emitting 64 tons of Volatile organic compounds a year.
In 2015 they admitted to the state they were releasing 580 tons and that and nothing has been done about it.
"The facility is bypassing the pollution controls they already have and emitting a lot of smoke and soot and pretty harmful fine particulate matter that is impacting the neighbors."
He says that when the facility was constructed in 2012, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) limited VOC emissions from the plant to 64 tons per year.
"Instead of emitting 64 tons of VOCs as the company originally claimed, they conceded to the state in 2015 that they were emitting at least 580 tons. That's almost ten times more than they originally claimed and much higher than they were authorized to emit."He says the Tyler County plant, which is Woodville has delayed installing a required air pollution control for nearly two years.
Anderson says the former owners agreed in 2018 that they would install additional air pollution controls.
Last year the plant was purchased by an Estonian Company that was granted permission to delay the installation until 2022.
"The first thing we're asking for is for the company to install the new pollution control technology as quickly as possible and come into compliance with the Clean Air Act as quickly as possible."The lawsuit was filed by the Environmental Integrity Project and Lone Star Legal Aid.
