The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a multi-state Clean Air Act settlement with Cargill, Inc. which will result in a reduction of approximately 30,000 tons of pollution a year and set new standards for limiting harmful emissions from specialty oilseed plants.
Washington, DC — The Department of Justice and theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a multi-state CleanAir Act settlement with Cargill, Inc. (Cargill), which will result in areduction of approximately 30,000 tons of pollution a year and set newstandards for limiting harmful emissions from specialty oilseed plants.Cargill is a multi-state agribusiness that owns and operates 27 plantswhich process corn, wheat, soybeans, and other oilseeds into value-addedproducts used in the food, feed, and ethanol industries.
The government's complaint, filed in federal district court inMinnesota, alleges that Cargill had significantly underestimatedemissions from its operations in 13 states. Under the settlement,Cargill is required to install air pollution control devices at its 27corn and oilseed processing facilities and is expected to spend anestimated $130 million to meet the requirements of the consent decree.Cargill will also pay a civil penalty of $1.6 million and spend $3.5million on environmental projects across the country.
Ten states and four counties have joined the federal government intoday's settlement: Alabama; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa;Missouri; Nebraska; North Carolina; North Dakota; Ohio; Memphis andShelby County, Tennessee; Montgomery County, Ohio; and Linn and PolkCounties, Iowa. The civil penalty and environmental project monies willbe shared with the participating states and counties.
"All Americans benefit when large corporations agree to bring theirfacilities into compliance with our nation's environmental laws," saidActing Assistant Attorney General Kelly A. Johnson, of the JusticeDepartment's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "Today'ssettlement is positive proof of the continued progress we are achievingwith the grain industry, through the cooperative enforcement efforts offederal, state, and local agencies."
Today's settlement calls for broad sweeping environmental improvementsat all nine of Cargill's corn processing plants, significantly advancingrecent efforts by the government to bring the ethanol industry intocompliance. With the lodging of today's consent decree, 81 percent ofuncontrolled ethanol production capacity will now be under settlementagreements to install air pollution control technologies to reduceemissions. The new technology standards established by this initiativeapply to all ethanol plants now under construction. Ethanol isprimarily a product of industrial corn and has been increasingly used asan automobile fuel alone or blended with gasoline. Ethanol's highoxygen content allows automobile engines to better combust fuel,resulting in reduced tail pipe emissions. The installation of airpollution controls at ethanol plants across the country will ensure thatthis fuel can be made cleanly.
Cargill's corn processing plants are significant sources of volatileorganic compounds (VOC's) and carbon monoxide (CO). In addition tocontributing to ground-level ozone (smog), VOC's can cause serioushealth problems such as cancer and other effects; CO is harmful becauseit reduces oxygen delivery to the body's organs and tissues. Cargill'soilseed plants emit a hazardous air pollutant, n-hexane, and are sourcesof VOC pollution.
"Cargill is following others in this industry by installing theappropriate controls and greatly reducing its air emissions, resultingin cleaner, healthier air," said Granta Y. Nakayama, EPA's AssistantAdministrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance."This agreement will improve the environment and at the same time createa level playing field in the industry."
Under the settlements, the corn processing plants are required toinstall or enhance thermal oxidizers and scrubbers that will reduce VOCemissions up to 98 percent, or 10,450 tons per year, and will reduce COemissions by 10,900 tons per year--the equivalent of taking 1.16 millionand 157,000 cars off the road each year, respectively. The settlementalso will result in annual reductions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 1,350tons, sulfur dioxide (SO2) by 2,250 tons per year, and additionalreductions in particulate matter (PM) and hazardous air pollutants. Theoilseed processing plants will meet more stringent limits for HAP andVOC emissions to reduce allowable emissions by more than 2,300 tons peryear. New limits for these plants will, in some instances, be as muchas 50 percent lower than current regulatory standards in the industry.
The United States initiated enforcement action against Cargill with theissuance of notices of violation against two oilseed plants in 2002 andall nine corn mill plants in 2003. This settlement comes three yearsafter federal and state agreements with 12 Ethanol Plants in Minnesotaand the April 2003 settlement with Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill'slargest competitor in this industry.
Under the settlement, Cargill will spend $3.5 million on environmentalprojects, which include funding for the Mid-South Clean Air CoalitionDiesel Retrofit Program in Tennessee, as well as wetland restorationprojects in Iowa and Nebraska.
Today's agreement has resulted from the combined enforcement efforts ofmany state and local entities whose participation in this federal actionwas instrumental in obtaining the quality of the settlement at hand.
The consent decree was lodged in federal district court in Minneapolis,Minn., and is subject to a 30-day comment period. A copy of the consentdecree is available on the Department of Justice website at:http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/pressroom.htm
For more information about the settlement, go to:http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/caa/cargill.html
Source: EPA
