A company headquartered in Sioux City has agreed to pay civil penalties and make millions of dollars worth of improvements to settle a series of alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act at plants in Iowa, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
Chris Whitley, with the Environmental Protection Agency, says Terra Industries made changes at nine of its plants without obtaining the appropriate permits. “It was also alleged that the company violated the Clean Air Act by exceeding air emission limits and ongoing requirements for the monitoring, record keeping and reporting of air emission limits at some of its facilities,” Whitley said.
Terra Industries is one the nation’s largest producers of nitric acid and nitrogen fertilizers and has two plants in the Port Neal area south of Sioux City. As part of the agreement with the EPA, Terra will pay $625,000 in civil penalties – with $100,000 going to the State of Iowa.
In addition, Terra will spend around $17 million to install new control and technology equipment that are expected to cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 1,200 tons per year. Whitley says the changes will cut air pollution and save the public from inhaling nitrogen oxide.
“It can contribute to a wide range of respiratory problems…so, it’s good to have that out of the air,” Whitley said.