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Settlement of Clean Water Act Violations Aims to Prevent Future Oil Spills by Archer Daniels Midland Company

Release Date: 07/30/2014
Contact Information: Ben Washburn, 913-551-7364, washburn.ben@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., July 30, 2014) - Archer Daniels Midland Company, a food processing and commodities trading company headquartered in Decatur, Ill., has agreed to settle allegations that it violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) at five different large oil storage facilities located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Columbus, Neb.; Des Moines, Iowa; Mexico, Mo.; and Deerfield, Mo.

Through the settlement with EPA Region 7, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will also pay a civil penalty of $430,000 to the United States.

The Clean Water Act requires facilities that store large quantities of oil to develop response plans that outline 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. Each of the five ADM facilities produces and stores more than 1 million gallons of oil. Combined, the five facilities have a total estimated storage capacity of more than 36 million gallons.

“Large oil storage facilities are required to have proper spill prevention and response plans in order to comply with the Clean Water Act,” said Karl Brooks, EPA Region 7 administrator. “The penalty imposed reflects the serious nature of noncompliance with these important requirements. By coming into compliance with the law, ADM is now better prepared to respond to spills that can harm the environment. Proper preparation for spills and emergencies can help avoid large-scale environmental disasters. We call upon other companies to do the same.”

EPA identified the lack of a response plan during a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) inspection in 2008 at ADM’s Cedar Rapids, Iowa, facility. The facility required a Facility Response Plan (FRP) because the storage capacity of its denatured ethanol tanks exceeded one million gallons. ADM committed to develop and submit an FRP, but failed to do so for the Cedar Rapids facility and three additional facilities until almost two years later in 2010. ADM’s Deerfield, Mo., facility also operated for a period in 2011 and 2012 without a required updated FRP.

The settlement resolves these violations by ADM of the FRP requirements of the CWA.

The settlement also resolves violations of the industrial stormwater requirements of three CWA operating permits issued to ADM for the Cedar Rapids, Columbus, and Deerfield facilities. The violations included ADM’s failure to implement best management practices at its facilities, failure to conduct and record site inspections, exceedances of permitted effluent limits, and unauthorized discharges of non-stormwater to waters of the United States in violation of the facilities’ CWA permits.

In addition to the payment of the $430,000 penalty, in order to document future compliance with the CWA, the settlement requires that ADM report on the implementation of the FRP program and the applicable industrial stormwater permits at the referenced facilities for three years.