• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Agriculture / Grain plant fined for air-quality violation

Grain plant fined for air-quality violation

November 22, 2005 By admin

The state’s fined a southeastern Iowa grain plant more than half-a-Million dollars for air-quality violations. Bob Brammer, spokesman in the Attorney General’s office explains the Roquette America plant in Keokuk cooks up all kinds of byproducts from Iowa farm products. He says they take corn, grind and heat it to make cornstarch, corn syrup, dextrose and other products. It’s not the corn that caused the problem, it was the industrial process of cooking it.

Brammer says they changed their way of heating the corn, from burning coal to using a blend of coal and “petroleum coke,” but didn’t report that to state and federal authorities, which is required, and they caused “significant deterioration of air quality.” The attorney general’s office is charging that the change put higher levels of the pollutant sulfur dioxide into the air.

The company agreed to settle the matter with the state by paying a civil penalty of 560-thousand dollars. In court papers, the company maintains it did not cause the higher pollution on purpose. They called it “inadvertent” violations, but he notes the Attorney General’s office, as well as the Department of Natural Resources, which monitors air quality in the state, did consider it an important action and that’s why they took action.

The agreement does not make the plant shut down, but it will have to get to work on plans for a new boiler that uses the best available air-quality control technology, and it must comply with air-pollution control rules.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Crime / Courts, Outdoors Tagged With: Department of Natural Resources

Featured Stories

Governor signs Iowa Renewable Fuels Standard into law

Jury returns guilty verdict in shooting death of State Trooper

A haboob, a dust storm black out, hits northwest Iowa

Summit has easements for 20% of carbon pipeline route through Iowa

Morel mushroom hunters on hold without warmer conditions

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Iowa’s Huckstorf garners national award

Iowa Special Olympics Summer games set to open in Ames

Radio Iowa/Baseball Coaches Association High School Poll 5/16/22

Iowa assistant coach Kirk Speraw to retire

Northern Iowa prepares for Missouri Valley Conference softball tournament

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC