The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has issued $40,000 penalty to South/Win Ltd. of North Carolina to settle environmental violations found following a 12,000-gallon methanol release in Leominster.

The spill occurred at the South/Win’s Nashua Street location where windshield cleaner and other automotive consumer products are produced.

Company employees discovered an apparent leak from a hose line used to transfer methanol from railcars to the building on March 7, 2011. A backflow valve apparently failed, discharging 12,000 gallons of methanol to the rail bed.

For a spill of this magnitude, notification to MassDEP is required within two hours of discovery, and assessment and cleanup should begin immediately. The company did not notify MassDEP until March 10, and also did not hire an environmental contractor to conduct the cleanup until that date.

Following the release, the facility was inspected by MassDEP and numerous air pollution control and hazardous waste management violations were found, including acting as an unregistered hazardous waste generator, acting as a storage facility for hazardous wastes and off-specification product, failing to engage in adequate employee training and violating the company’s air quality plan approval.

South/Win agreed to pay the $40,000 penalty, and worked with MassDEP staff to revise its spill contingency and material management plans, better trained its workforce to address product spills, and corrected all outstanding violations.