The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports:
AgriProcessors, Inc., has agreed to pay a $590,756 civil penalty to resolve federal claims that the company failed to comply with wastewater pretreatment conditions and limitations, and other issues, in Postville.
The settlement resolves a complaint filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa, which announced the agreement today.
Discharges by the meatpacking company introduced pollutants into Postville's water treatment plant, causing the city to violate its wastewater treatment permit, said U.S. Attorney Charles W. Larson Sr.
Under the settlement, AgriProcessors agrees to spend an additional $12,330 for emergency response equipment for the Postville Fire Department. The company will also conduct environmental compliance audits at its facilities in Postville and Gordon, Neb.
The settlement also resolves claims that the company failed to properly submit emergency and hazardous chemical inventory forms and Toxic Chemical Release Inventory forms for anhydrous ammonia at the facility, and failed to develop and implement a risk management program and submit a plan for anhydrous ammonia use at the facility.
A court settlement in 2004 resolved related environmental claims between the city and Iowa Turkey Products Inc.