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Battery Manufacturer in Corydon, Iowa, to Pay $53,547 Penalty for Failure to Monitor and Report Wastewater Discharges

Release Date: 06/09/2010
Contact Information: Chris Whitley, 913-551-7394, whitley.christopher@epa.gov


Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., June 9, 2010) - East Penn LLC, which operates a lead acid battery manufacturing facility in Corydon, Iowa, has reached a settlement with EPA Region 7 over issues related to the company’s failure to properly monitor and report discharges of its industrial process wastewater into the City of Corydon’s public wastewater treatment system.

East Penn LLC, located on Highway 2, Corydon, has agreed to pay a $53,547 civil penalty to the United States in settlement of alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, according to an administrative consent agreement filed today in Kansas City, Kan.

In July 2009, during a compliance inspection of the City of Corydon’s public wastewater treatment system, EPA staff discovered that East Penn LLC’s facility was discharging industrial process wastewater to the city’s system. At that time, the company had never applied for a water pretreatment permit from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), and the city confirmed that the company was not conducting proper monitoring or reporting of wastewater discharges to ensure that the battery plant was in compliance with the Clean Water Act.

Because East Penn LLC’s wastewater was known to contain lead, its failure to monitor and report levels of lead concentration left the City of Corydon unable to determine the safety of the company’s discharges to the city’s treatment system.

As a result of the settlement, East Penn LLC has filed an application for a pretreatment permit with IDNR and has begun to conduct the required monitoring to ensure that its wastewater will not adversely impact Corydon’s treatment system, or the system’s discharges to West Jackson Creek, which is a tributary to the Chariton River.

The consent agreement is subject to a 30-day public comment period before it becomes final.