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Grain Processing Corp. Pays $538,000 Civil Penalty for Air Pollution Violations at its Ethanol Plant

Excerpted from the Iowa Attorney General’s Website.

Muscatine County District Court Judge J. Hobart Darbyshire entered judgment today against Grain Processing Corporation, assessing a $538,000 civil penalty for air pollution control violations and requiring other measures to prevent air pollution in the future.

Grain Processing Corporation processes grain into ethanol and various feed and food products at its facility located in Muscatine, Iowa.

Attorney General Tom Miller said the Court’s order resolves a State lawsuit against Grain Processing Corporation, which also was filed today. The lawsuit alleged that Grain Processing exceeded its annual hourly operating limits for a spray dryer, resulting in excess pollution, and failed to take measures to prevent significant deterioration of the air quality. The company agreed to the “Consent Order, Judgment and Decree” entered by the Court today. [Click here for the lawsuit. Click here for the Consent Order, Judgment and Decree.]

Grain Processing Corporation has ceased its excess emissions from the spray dryer and is enjoined from further violations. In addition to paying the civil penalty, Grain Processing Corporation agreed in the order to conduct facility-wide modeling to determine whether additional changes need to be made at the facility to ensure compliance with air quality standards, and to make any improvements that are necessary.

IDNR, Wind Advocates and Wildlife Groups Meet to Discuss Wind Siting Guidelines

(Excepted from IDNR’s ECONEWSWIRE)

DES MOINES - Responding to growing interest in wind energy generation in the state, as well as concern over potential impacts to Iowa wildlife, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources convened a group on October 26, 2005 to discuss wind and wildlife issues.

The group will continue to meet through 2006 and will develop a map showing areas of concern relating to wildlife that could be used when siting proposed wind turbines. Although only counties have regulatory authority over wind siting, the group may recommend a voluntary set of guidelines wind developers should follow when siting turbines in sensitive areas, to allow for maximum economic development in the state with minimum impact on wildlife.

Meeting participants included representatives from the American Wind Energy Association, Iowa Audubon, Iowa State University, the Iowa Renewable Energy Association, MidAmerican Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

For more information about this effort, contact Doug Harr with the DNR at (515) 281-4815 or by e-mail at Doug.Harr@dnr.state.ia.us .

Karen Grimes
515-281-51I35
Karen.Grimes@dnr.state.ia.us

Roquette America pays a $560,000 penalty for air violations

(Extracted from Iowa Attorney General’s Office Website)
DES MOINES. Attorney General Tom Miller said today that Lee County District Court Judge Mary Ann Brown has entered judgment against Roquette America, Inc., assessing a $560,000 civil penalty for air pollution violations at Roquette’s corn wet milling facility in Keokuk.
The Court’s order is contained in a “Consent Order, Judgment and Decree” entered late this morning at Lee County District Court in Keokuk. The State’s allegations were contained in a lawsuit also filed today at the Court.
The suit alleged: “Roquette illegally modified its method of operations by changing from use of coal to a blended fuel of coal and petroleum coke, resulting in significant increases in sulfur dioxide emissions, without complying with State and federal requirements to prevent significant deterioration of air quality.”
The court ordered Roquette to submit a permit application within 30 days for construction of a new boiler which will apply the best available control technology and comply with all applicable air pollution control requirements. The court also permanently enjoined Roquette from further violations.
According to the lawsuit, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources determined that Roquette had illegally changed its fuel for certain emission units from coal (which had been approved) to a blended fuel of coal and petroleum coke. Petroleum coke is a by-product from oil refineries and is composed mainly of carbon with high levels of sulfur and heavy metals. The suit alleged that Roquette illegally changed to the blended fuel for its boilers in 2000 and discontinued use of the blended fuel in 2002.

Iowa EPC proposes new rules on major water sources

(From Iowa Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee Digest)
Animal feeding operations: major water source, IAB Vol. XXVIII, No. 10, ARC 4652B, NOTICE.
The EPC proposes to update its list of streams and rivers that constitute a “major water source”; this term is defined in §459.102(33) as: “a water … capable of supporting a floating vessel capable of carrying one or more persons during a total of a six–month period in one out of ten years, excluding periods of flooding…” Note this is a broad definition, taking into account the recreational use of the waters; some states retain a narrower view of navigation, limiting it to commercial uses.
Inclusion on this list is significant. §459.310, Iowa Code requires a 1,000 foot separation distance between a confined feeding operation and major water source, while only a 500 foot separation is required for smaller water resources.

For that reason it is important that the resources be accurately designated. Each individual segment of these streams has not been examined. Instead, a formula has been used. A perennial stream, one that has a water flow all year is designated a first order stream. A second-order stream is fed by at least two first-order streams. The joining of two-second order streams forms a third-order stream. Stream ranking continues until the highest-ordered channel is reached. The Amazon is a twelfth order stream.

First and second-order streams typically carry small volumes of water. The EPC believes that a forth [sic] order stream meets the definition of a “major water source” as being able to support a floating vessel. The stream segments added by this rulemaking were designated because they meet the definition of a forth order stream; i.e. thee confluence of two third order streams.

Discussions Re Wind Siting Guidelines

(Excepted from IDNR’s ECONEWSWIRE)

DES MOINES - Responding to growing interest in wind energy generation in the state, as well as concern over potential impacts to Iowa wildlife, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources convened a group on October 26, 2005 to discuss wind and wildlife issues.

The group will continue to meet through 2006 and will develop a map showing areas of concern relating to wildlife that could be used when siting proposed wind turbines. Although only counties have regulatory authority over wind siting, the group may recommend a voluntary set of guidelines wind developers should follow when siting turbines in sensitive areas, to allow for maximum economic development in the state with minimum impact on wildlife.

Meeting participants included representatives from the American Wind Energy Association, Iowa Audubon, Iowa State University, the Iowa Renewable Energy Association, MidAmerican Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

For more information about this effort, contact Doug Harr with the DNR at (515) 281-4815 or by e-mail at Doug.Harr@dnr.state.ia.us .

Karen Grimes
515-281-51I35
Karen.Grimes@dnr.state.ia.us

IDNR Seeks Input on Major Water Sources - Could Impact Confinement Construction

(Excerpted from IDNR’s ECONEWSWIRE)

DES MOINES - The DNR is seeking public comment on a proposed expansion of the list of major water sources.

“These are additions and corrections to an existing list because some stream segments were missing,” said Gene Tinker, coordinator of the DNR’s animal feeding operations program.

Tinker added that the changes could have an effect on the construction or expansion of confinement buildings and manure storage structures.

“There is a setback distance of 1,000 feet from a major water source that all sizes of confinements must meet when constructing, modifying or expanding,” Tinker said.

A similar setback of 500 feet is required for confinement feeding operations that build, modify or expand near a water source.

The setback distances do not apply for confinement producers who provide a secondary containment barrier that meets DNR standards.

People can make comments at a public meeting to be held at 1:30 p.m., Dec. 1, in the fourth floor conference room of the Wallace Building, 502 East Ninth St., in Des Moines.

Written comments can also be sent to the DNR at the Wallace Building address by midnight or postmarked on Dec. 1.

For more information and a list of the proposed major water sources, check the DNR Web site at http://www.iowadnr.com/epc/05oct/14.pdf.

For more information, contact Gene Tinker at (563) 927-2640.