ADM Facilities in Iowa to Cut Emissions Under Federal Settlement

DES MOINES—The U.S. Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday a landmark settlement with Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) covering operations at 52 plants in 16 states, including installing air pollution control improvements at plants Cedar Rapids, Clinton, and Des Moines.

The Department of Natural Resources and Iowa Attorney General’s Office participated extensively in the federal settlement, which was conducted with numerous state and local air pollution agencies over the last 20 months.

“This is a landmark settlement that will reduce over 23,000 tons of emissions in Iowa alone,” said Chuck Corell, the DNR’s lead participant and supervisor of the air compliance section.

He said emission reductions will phase in over ten years at ADM facilities in Cedar Rapids, Clinton and Des Moines. The smaller Keokuk facility will not require additional controls. Clinton air quality will benefit the most, with nearly 15,000 tons of annual reductions primarily from cuts in sulfur dioxide, a contributor to acid rain, and volatile organic compounds, linked to smog formation.

“The agreement will cut 7,600 tons of smog-forming volatile organic compounds from Iowa skies,” said Corell. “For perspective, Iowa’s top 11 emitters combined emit that amount of volatile organics.”

Under the federal settlement, ADM will make environmental improvements to eliminate at least 63,000 tons of emissions a year nationally including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants. ADM will install state-of-the-art controls on a large number of units, shut down some older, dirtier units and take emission limits on others.

The Department of Justice and plaintiffs alleged that ADM failed to estimate emissions from hundreds of processes and expanded others without installing required air pollution technology under New Source Review and Prevention of Significant Deterioration requirements under the Clean Air Act.

The settlement includes a civil penalty of $4.6 million and ADM agreed to spend $6.3 million on supplemental environmental projects to retrofit diesel engines in school buses as part of the settlement, according to officials at the U.S. Department of Justice. The pollution control costs are estimated at $340 million over ten years nationwide.