Ag Processing Inc to Pay $96,588 Penalty for Failure to Develop Facility Response Project for Operations in Mason City, Iowa

(Kansas City, Kan., November 16, 2011) - Ag Processing Inc (AGP), a farmer-owned cooperative involved in the acquisition, processing and marketing of grain products, has agreed to pay a $96,588 civil penalty to the U.S. for its failure to develop and implement a Facility Response Project for its soybean processing facility in Mason City, Iowa.

According to an administrative consent arrangement filed by E.P.A. Region seven in Kansas City, Kan., the Agency inspected the Mason City facility in January 2009. The inspection found that although the facility has a documented storage capacity of in excess of one million gallons of soy oil and/or fuel oil (actually 5.6 million gallons of capacity) it had not submitted a Facility Response Project to EPA, as required by the federal Clean Water Act. The facility also had not developed or implemented a facility response training plan or a drill/exercise program, as required by the regulations.

The Mason City AGP facility is located within 300 feet of a perennial stream, Cheslea Creek, which flows through 2 small lakes, then into Willow Creek and the Winnebago River. Without a Facility Response Plan, the Mason City facility was not adequately prepared for a worst-case discharge to the nearby waters, including potential negative impacts to wetland habitat areas.

AGP's settlement includes a schedule of steps that the company must take to submit to E.P.A. a Facility Response Project for the Mason City facility, and an arrangement to conduct a revised evaluation of whether a Facility Response Project is required for its facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa.

EPA's civil enforcement action is part of the Agency's efforts in Region seven (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and 9 tribal nations) to make certain that owners and operators of the biggest oil storage facilities-with capacity of one million gallons or more-are prepared to respond to worst-case discharges, accidents and emergencies, and to protect sensitive environments that could be threatened by such incidents.

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