October 2014, Vol. 69, No. 10
Newsline
Settlement Aims To Prevent Future Oil Spills By Cargill Inc.
Cargill Incorporated, a privately held multinational corporation headquartered in Minnetonka, MN, has agreed to settle allegations that it violated the Clean Water Act at two different large oil storage facilities located in Blair, NE, and Eddyville, IA.
Through the settlement with EPA Region 7, Cargill will pay a civil penalty of $187,500 to the United States.
The Clean Water Act requires facilities that store large quantities of oil to develop a Facility Response Plan (FRP) that outlines procedures for addressing “worst-case” discharges of oil. By being prepared and by conducting required response drills, facilities are better situated to prevent environmental harm from such releases. Each of Cargill’s two facilities produces and stores more than 1 million gallons of oil. Combined, the two facilities have a total estimated storage capacity of more than 7 million gallons.
EPA identified the lack of a response plan during 2013 site visits at Cargill’s facilities in Blair and Eddyville. Each facility required a FRP because the storage capacity of its denatured ethanol tanks exceeded 1 million gallons.
As a result of the visits, in June 2014 Cargill submitted to EPA signed and effective FRPs. The settlement resolves the FRP violations of the CWA by Cargill.
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