Did you know that on June 12, 2008, Judge Thomas B. Russell of the Western District of Kentucky entered the Consent Decree in United States v. Rohm and Haas Chemicals, LLC.  The Consent Decree resolves alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, at the Company’s Louisville facility. 

Rohm and Haas’ multiple violations of environmental law stemmed from an EPA and National Enforcement Investigations Center inspection at the facility in 2005.  As part of the Consent Decree, the company will pay a civil penalty of $35,975 and perform two supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) costing at least $133,671.  One project is a pollution reduction project and the other is an emergency planning and preparedness SEP.

BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to pay $785,662 to resolve Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) violations at its Texas City, Texas, refinery, the Environmental Protection Agency announced today.  BP Products will pay a $420,662 civil penalty and spend $365,000 on supplemental environmental projects in Texas City.

The law requires that certain facilities that manufacture, process or use certain toxic chemicals report releases annually by July 1, for the preceding calendar year. This settlement addresses the company’s noncompliance with EPCRA reporting requirements by failing to complete and submit toxic chemical release inventory information to EPA and the State of Texas for the period 2002-2005, and failure to maintain reporting records for calendar year 2004.

The toxic chemicals subject to reporting requirements included anthracene, cobalt compounds, dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, formaldehyde, lead compounds, methanol, nickel compounds, phenanthrene, and vanadium.  Thus, PB Products failed to report some very serious toxic chemicals to EPA. 

BP’s payment of $365,000 in supplemental environmental projects are intended to improve Texas City’s ability to respond to emergency releases that threaten human health or the environment and include an ambulance, upgrade of the city’s computer system, communications equipment and an Optigon system to assist with traffic control during emergencies. Also included in the projects are funds to improve the city’s Emergency Operations Center and upgrade the city’s mobile command post.

The Bush Administration plans to eliminate requirements for farms to disclose air pollution from animal waste from feed lots and factory farms.  EPA proposes to exempt certain releases of hazardous substances to the air from the notification requirements of CERCLA and EPCRA, as implemented in 40 CFR 302.6 and 40 CFR 355.40, respectively. Specifically, U.S. EPA proposes to exempt those hazardous substance releases that are emitted to the air (typically during digestion, break-down or decomposition) from animal waste at farms. Although ammonia and hydrogen sulfide are the most recognized hazardous substances that are emitted from animal waste, there may also be some amounts of additional hazardous substances released.  Ammonia is a by-product of the break-down of urea and proteins that are contained in animal waste. Hydrogen sulfide is another by-product of the break-down of animal waste. These hazardous substances can be emitted when animal waste is contained in a lagoon or stored in under-floor manure pits in some animal housing, manure stockpiles, or in the open where animals congregate. Open air or dry manure stockpiles are not generally associated with significant hydrogen sulfide emissions.  Additional hazardous substances may be emitted to the air from animal waste.

Currently farms must report to federal, state and local officials when emissions of hazardous substances like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide exceed certain levels. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed eliminating the reporting requirement. EPA argued that the requirement created an unnecessary burden for farms and that the emission release reports weren’t acted on at the federal level, but at the state level.  Public comment for the proposed change closes March 27, 2008.

Under the proposed exemption, the term “farm” means (a.) any place whose operation is agricultural and from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year. Operations receiving $1,000 or more in Federal government payments are counted as farms, even if they have no sales and otherwise lack the potential to have $1,000 or more in sales; or, (b.) a federal or state poultry, swine, dairy or livestock research farm.

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-2007-0469, by one of the following methods: http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments. E-mail: superfund.docket@epa.gov. Fax: (202) 566-9744.  Mail: Superfund Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail code: [2822T], 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.  This exemption should be of interest to people living in western and southern Kentucky where large industrial chicken and pig farms are located.