(Lenexa, Kan., Feb. 25, 2016) - 3 subsidiary companies of Darling Ingredients, Inc., a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas, have agreed to settle allegations of Clean Water Act violations at 4 different oil storage facilities located in Muscatine and Sioux City, Iowa, and Wichita and Kansas City, Kan. Each of these facilities store a combination of petroleum fuel oils, vegetable oils or animal fats produced from animal rendering.
Through 3 separate settlements with E.P.A. Region 7, naming Darling Ingredients, Inc., Darling Ingredients LLC and Darling National LLC (both doing business as Dar Pro), and Griffin Industries LLC as respondents, the companies will pay a combined civil penalty of $135,000 to the United States. E.P.A. identified the violations during location visits and inspections of each facility in 2013.
The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires facilities that store in excess of 1,320 gallons of oil (which includes animal fats and vegetable oils) to have and properly implement a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Project designed to prevent oil spills from leaving those facilities. In 2013, E.P.A. inspected the Sioux City, Wichita and Kansas City facilities and found these facilities violated SPCC plan requirements by failing to properly identify and account for all oil storage capacity, and properly Project for the containment of possible spills.
The CWA also requires facilities that store in excess of one million gallons of oil to develop a Facility Response Project (FRP), which 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.
"The Clean Water Act requires small oil storage facilities to have projects to prevent a spill from leaving their property, and for large oil storage facilities to have adequate response projects to prevent a spill from becoming a much larger environmental problem," said E.P.A. Region seven Administrator Mark Hague. "In the case of an oil spill, the lack of proper spill prevention and response preparation can have serious consequences for nearby residents and the environment. This settlement helps protect the environment and the communities near these facilities from that risk."
At the time of EPA's location visits, both the Muscatine and Sioux City facilities produced and stored in excess of one million gallons of oil. The Muscatine facility has now ceased the storage of oil, and the Sioux City facility has reduced its oil storage capacity to less than one million gallons.
The settlement arrangement with Griffin Industries LLC for the Muscatine facility requires a penalty payment of $12,500 and resolves the company's previous failure to properly determine whether a FRP was required for that facility.
The settlement arrangement with Darling Ingredients LLC and Darling National LLC resolves the SPCC violations alleged at the Wichita and Kansas City facilities and requires a penalty payment of $23,500.
Lastly, a suggested settlement with Darling Ingredients, Inc., resolves both alleged SPCC and FRP violations at the Sioux City facility and requires a penalty payment of $99,000. This settlement is subject to a 40-day public review period. More information about the settlement and how to review can be accessed
online.
By each of these settlements, each company attests they are now in compliance with the CWA.
