U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has reached an agreement with Archer Daniels Midland Co. on alleged clean-air violations at the company's grain processing plant at
The agreement resolves EPA allegations that ADM violated federal hazardous air pollutant regulations for pharmaceutical manufacturing at its Vitamin E production facility by failing to do equipment testing, monitoring and reporting. EPA said ADM also violated rules to protect stratospheric ozone by, among other things, failing to track leaks of chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant from chillers at the facility. EPA discovered some of the alleged violations during an inspection of the plant last December, and ADM disclosed other potential violations after the inspection.
For its first environmental project, ADM must install 58 seal-less pumps and 15 seal-less agitators at the
Exposure to hazardous air pollutants may cause serious health effects, including birth defects and cancer. They may also cause harmful environmental and ecological effects.
When CFC refrigerants deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, dangerous amounts of cancer-causing ultraviolet rays from the sun strike the earth. Production of some of these chemicals was stopped in 1995, and federal law strictly controls their use and handling.
Information on EPA Region 5's air enforcement program is at http://www.epa.gov/region5/air/enforce/index.html. Potential environmental violations may be reported at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/complaints.
