Houston, 14 February (Argus) — A unit of Koch Industries will pay a $380,000 civil penalty to settle alleged Clean Air Act violations at its Iowa and Kansas facilities, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said.
The EPA cited repeated violations of a risk management program at three facilities owned by Koch Nitrogen Co in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Marshalltown, Iowa, and Dodge City, Kansas, in 2007 and 2009.
The risk management program outlined by EPA states “facilities must develop a management system, assess hazards, develop a prevention program, address emergency response, and submit a risk management plan,” the EPA said.
Koch's facilities “had issues with the management system, had not fully implemented the prevention program requirements, had not adequately coordinated with local first responders, and failed to include all required information in the risk management plan,” the EPA said.
Koch cooperated with the Department of Justice and the EPA and the settlement “reflects the strong protections we provide in our facility risk management programs,” Koch spokesman Paul Baltzer said.
Koch's Fort Dodge plant has ammonia capacity of 386,000st/yr and UAN capacity of 540,000st/yr while its Dodge City plant has ammonia and UAN capacities of 309,000st/yr and 255,000st/yr, respectively.
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