NLV company settles pollution complaint

Alana Roberts

Friday, Sept. 26, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.

Capital Cabinet Corp., a North Las Vegas kitchen and bathroom cabinet manufacturer, has agreed to pay a $142,000 fine and use different materials and equipment to settle a Clean Air Act lawsuit filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The settlement was reached a few weeks ago, said Richard Anderson, president of Capital Cabinet, who added that the settlement is not an admission of guilt.

"We've never felt that Capital Cabinet was in violation in the terms and conditions of the Clean Air Act, but you don't fight the federal government. So with a spirit of cooperation we've managed to settle without costing the public a whole lot of money," Anderson said Thursday.

He said he isn't sure how much money the changes will cost the manufacturer, which employs 375 people.

"It's going to be significant. You can only absorb so much into your pricing. Eventually you have to pass that it on to your customer," Anderson said.

The company uses booths to apply spray sealers, top coats, paints and contact adhesives that cause emissions.

The EPA alleges that the company's manufacturing plant on Losee Road has never had emission controls and the company failed to report releases of toluene -- an ingredient in paints, paint thinners and other products -- to the EPA in 1996. Both are violations of national environmental laws.

Capital Cabinet will need to reduce its emissions of volatile organic compounds by about 50 tons a year to 25 tons a year immediately, said Laura Gentile, an EPA spokeswoman. It must also comply with the EPA's standard for hazardous air pollutants for wood furniture manufacturing operations.

The company is believed by some environmental experts to be a big polluter. According to a study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the company helped North Las Vegas to lead the state in the release of carcinogenic emissions between 1987 and 2000.

However, county environmental officials criticized the study for not noting that emission levels in the city were dramatically reduced in 1999 and 2000.

Capital Cabinet was founded in 1982 in North Las Vegas. The company's predecessor, XA Cabinet, was founded in 1946 in Southern California by Frank Anderson. The two were combined in 1993.

The company was a privately held family business until June, when Fortune Brands' MasterBrand Cabinets Inc. purchased the company.

Capital Cabinet serves the residential construction industry in Nevada, California, Utah and Arizona. It has annual sales of about $30 million.