Wenatchee, Wash. — Custom Apple Packers Inc. of Wenatchee is saying that it had a risk management plan for anhydrous ammonia all along, and filed it with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Seattle. But EPA claims otherwise, and decided Custom Apple should pay a fine. “We went along for about five years assuming our plan was in place,” insisted Attorney Jim Brown of Wenatchee. Brown said, recounting that in 2009 EPA conducted an audit of Custom Apples and informed the company it needed the plan, which either didn’t get to them or got misplaced. “Put it this, they have no record of having the plan in 2009 updated as part of a regular five-year process and resubmitted that year. “They said they never got the original plan and considered us out of compliance for those years,” Brown related. “We couldn’t prove our position so we decided to settle rather than litigate.” In the meantime, he added that there never were any ammonia releases, so there never was any problem.
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