U.S. Takes Action to Stop Illegal Acid Waste from
Texas Chemical Plant
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
U.S. Justice Department today announced that Air Products LLC has agreed
to pay nearly $1.5 million in civil penalties to resolve hazardous waste
mismanagement violations at its Pasadena, Texas chemical manufacturing
facility. The settlement resolves Air Products’ Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA) violations in transferring spent acid to the
neighboring Agrifos fertilizer manufacturing plant.
This case is related to EPA’s National Enforcement Initiative for Mining
and Mineral Processing. Although Air Products does not conduct mining or
mineral processing, it sent the spent acid stream to a facility that
does -- the Agrifos fertilizer plant. Mining and mineral processing
facilities generate more toxic and hazardous waste than any other
industrial sector, based on EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory. If not
properly managed, wastes from these facilities may pose a high risk to
human health and the environment. Since 2003, EPA has been investigating
20 phosphoric acid facilities in seven states.
“We are concerned that wastes from mineral processing and associated
fertilizer production can pose a serious risk to our nation’s drinking
water and the health of families,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant
administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
“And we’re just as concerned when contaminated wastes from other
facilities find their way to these operations. EPA is working to
minimize or eliminate risks to communities and the environment from
illegal hazardous waste operations at phosphoric acid and other high
risk facilities.”
“This settlement eliminates the disposal of spent-acid waste from the
Air Products facility into the environment,” said Ignacia S. Moreno,
Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and
Natural Resources Division. “By stopping this source of pollution, this
settlement will reduce risks to human health and the environment.”
As part of the settlement, Air Products has agreed to continue to manage
the spent acid on-site and not ship it to Agrifos or any other facility
not authorized to accept it. Air Products is currently in compliance
with the RCRA requirements specified in the settlement.
Air Products, a manufacturer of chemicals used in the manufacture of
polyurethane and hydrogen gas, operates its facility on a 105-acre tract
of property adjacent to the Agrifos fertilizer plant. For many years,
the company purchased acid product from Agrifos and returned a spent
acid stream that Air Products had used in its operations. In April
2006, inspectors from EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality (TCEQ) observed that the return acid stream was a spent acid
that was being used to make land-applied fertilizer. Agrifos is not
authorized to accept hazardous waste from other facilities.
Before the settlement was concluded, Air Products instituted
modifications that will reduce the levels of contamination in the spent
acid, and the construction of a $60 million regeneration plant that
will stop the acid waste stream altogether.
As part of the settlement, Air Products has agreed to continue to manage
the spent acid on site and not ship it to Agrifos or any other facility
not authorized to accept it. Air Products has agreed to notify EPA and
TCEQ in the event that the spent acid is either disposed of or sent off
site.
In a national enforcement effort, EPA has focused on compliance in the
phosphoric acid industry because of the high risk of releases of acidic
wastewaters at these facilities, which can cause groundwater
contamination and fish kills. A 2007 incident at the Agrifos phosphoric
acid facility in Houston released 50 million gallons of acidic hazardous
wastewater into the Houston Ship Channel. Another example is the 65
million gallon release of acidic wastewaters from the Mosaic Riverview
facility into Tampa Bay in 2004, which led to a massive local fish kill.
The proposed settlement agreement, lodged in the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of Texas, is subject to a 30-day public comment
period and approval by the federal court.
More information on the settlement:
www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/rcra/airproducts.html
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