An Illinois-based chemical company agreed to a $85.5 million settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality regarding its facility in Louisiana.
PCS Nitrogen, headquartered in Deerfield, Ill., and a subsidiary of Canadian fertilizer company Nutrien, agreed to a more than $1.5 million civil penalty and more than $84 million "of financial assurance to secure the full cost of closure," EPA said in a July 14 news release. The settlement also included nonmonetary agreements from PCS Nitrogen.
"This settlement requires PCS Nitrogen to treat over 1 billion pounds of hazardous waste and take steps to ensure that the long-term closure of its facility is protective of the environment," EPA Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Office Acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield said in the release. "This is a very important outcome as the facility is located in an area prone to hurricanes and the financial assurance secured will protect taxpayers from paying future closure and cleanup costs."
The settlement was filed July 14 the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana and now awaits the end of a 45-day public comment period before it can be approved by the court. This action resolves alleged violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at the facility, the release reported.
The $84 million will be spend in large part on remediating the piles of phosphogypsum stacks, some of it as much as 200 feet high and covering 100 acres, at PCS Nitrogen's former operations in Geismar, La., according to the release.
The Geismar facility was shut down in 2018, except for company operations to close off those phosphogypsum stacks and to create a network of pipes and ditches to capture wastewater from the stacks and treat it in a plant specially built for that purpose. Among other things, PCS Nitrogen allegedly failed to properly identify and manage corrosive hazardous waste streams that were illegally mixed with process wastewater and phosphogypsum from the company's now-former phosphoric acid production.
"This settlement requires treatment of all contaminated wastewater accumulated at the PCS Nitrogen facility, thus protecting sensitive wetlands and the Mississippi River," Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in the release. "PCS Nitrogen also will secure the full cost of closure with $84 million in financial assurance to protect taxpayers, demonstrating our continued commitment to hold this industry accountable both for past violations and future contingencies."
