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Grain Processing Corporation of Muscatine, Iowa, Agrees to Pay $129,000 Penalty for Clean Water Act Violations

Release Date: 04/16/2013
Contact Information: Ben Washburn, 913-551-7364, washburn.ben@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., April 16, 2013) - EPA Region 7 announced today that Grain Processing Corporation (GPC), in Muscatine, Iowa, has agreed to pay a civil penalty for violations of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) that occurred in 2011.

GPC failed to comply with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) monitoring requirements by taking unrepresentative flow measurements and not conducting settleability tests; failed to maintain all facilities and control systems in good working order; and exceeded the effluent limitations for biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, temperature, and pH. GPC came into compliance with CWA regulations after EPA Region 7 issued an order to the company on July 29, 2011, requiring it to correct the violations.

“Discharge permits are one of the Clean Water Act’s most important tools to protect our waters’ health and productivity,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks. “EPA takes NPDES violations very seriously and this penalty sends a message to GPC and others that protecting our waters is an important part of their operations.”

Effluent limitation violations negatively impact the receiving water (Mississippi River); Operations and Maintenance violations, such as malfunctioning equipment, and failure to comply with monitoring requirements, lead to situations where the wastewater treatment plant’s operations, including the pollutants in the effluent, are not accurately known or documented.

By agreeing to the settlement, GPC has certified that it is in compliance with the Clean Water Act.