Contact: Ralph Pribble, 651-757-2657
St. Paul, Minn. - The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) today announced Corn Plus will pay a $200,000 civil penalty and complete a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) costing no less than $691,000 for a variety of alleged water-quality violations at the company’s ethanol production facility in Winnebago.
Earlier in 2009, Corn Plus paid a penalty totaling $150,000 to resolve a criminal water quality charge brought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The violations, occurring from 2006 to 2008, were documented during MPCA staff inspections of the facility following complaints of odorous and discolored discharges to nearby surface waters, and after law enforcement personnel observed similar discharges. Eventually it was found that the wastewater discharges from a cooling tower at the facility had been illegally connected to a stormwater system that discharged to Rice Lake via a county ditch.
A significant portion of the violations alleged in the agreement relate to operating an unpermitted wastewater-disposal system; unpermitted discharge of wastewater that violated surface water-quality standards and caused nuisance conditions; failure to prevent the unpermitted discharges; and failure to report the unpermitted discharges and disposal system.
Under the SEP in the penalty agreement, the company will install a closed-loop heat-transfer system that will reduce overall water usage at the facility by 10 million gallons and reduce discharges to the Winnebago wastewater treatment facility by about 6 million gallons annually. The SEP also calls for the company to install more efficient lighting. The new lighting and heat transfer systems will also reduce energy consumption at the facility. The company agreed to spend a minimum of $691,000 on the improvements and complete the SEP by September 2010.
SEPs are a common component of environmental penalties, and may include environmental improvements to the facility or other projects to benefit the environment. Projects must be approved by the MPCA.
In addition to the civil penalty and SEP, the company agreed to a compliance schedule for completing corrective actions, including specific plans on how it will ensure compliance with the facility’s environmental permit limits and prevent reoccurrence of the violations in the future.
When calculating penalties, the MPCA takes into account how seriously the violations affected the environment, whether they were first-time or repeat violations, and how promptly they were reported to appropriate authorities. Penalties also attempt to recover the calculated economic benefit gained by failure to comply with environmental laws in a timely manner. For a comprehensive list of enforcement actions by the MPCA, go to the agency’s Web site at www.pca.state.mn.us/newscenter/enforcement.html.
