WASHINGTON — A plant-based ingredient manufacturer has agreed to pay an $8 million settlement for violations of the Clean Air Act stemming from their Indianapolis corn wet mill.
Illinois-based Ingredion, Inc. has agreed to a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the Indiana Attorney General's Office over claims that the company violated Clean Air Act permit limits on particulate matter emissions and failed to operate and monitor certain equipment as required in order to minimize air emissions.
The claims were filed regarding their corn wet mill facility in Indianapolis.
Conditions of the settlement requires Ingredion to pay a civil penalty of $1,139,600 and implement measures at a cost of nearly $7 million to reduce and offset their particulate matter emissions.
“This settlement requires Ingredion to lower its emissions of particulate matter, which can cause serious health problems, and also requires Ingredion to take steps to offset the unlawful emissions it released in the past,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
Ingredion will be required to install and operate new equipment to meet the particulate matter limits established by the EPA and implement a modernized compliance management system to address repeated operation and monitoring failures at the facility and hire an independent auditor to verify the effectiveness of the system.
Particulate matter is made up of microscopic solid or liquid droplets that can cause serious health problems, such as coughing, aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis, or even death in people with heart or lung disease, if gotten into the lungs.
“Today’s settlement will not just bring Ingredion back into compliance with the Clean Air Act, it will hold it to more stringent air pollution standards going forward,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD).
