The U.S. EPA on Aug. 17 announced a $1.7 million settlement with The Andersons Marathon Holdings (Andersons Marathon) LLC to resolve alleged Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) at four ethanol facilities in Logansport, Ind., Denison, Iowa, Albion, Mich., and Greenville, Ohio.
The Andersons Inc., Maumee, Ohio, owns 50.1% of Andersons Marathon (GM Oct. 4, 2019), with Marathon Petroleum Corp. owning. 49.9%. The Andersons operate Andersons Marathon.
The investigations were of Andersons Marathon’s failure to file, failure to file timely, and failure to file accurate annual EPCRA TRI Forms for several chemicals from its fermentation vapor stream.
The company has agreed to pay a total penalty of $1,731,256 between two Consent Agreements and Final Orders (CAFO), the largest EPCRA TRI penalty ever obtained by the agency. In total, EPA found 101 violations.
Andersons Marathon has since filed its 2015-2020 EPCRA Toxic Chemical Release Forms and corrected its 2015-2020 data quality errors for chemicals including benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and other chemicals. EPA and Andersons Marathon also agreed as to how Andersons Marathon will report its future manufacture, process, or other use of fermentation chemicals (acetaldehyde, methanol, acrolein, formaldehyde, and formic acid).
As a result of the action and for future reporting, Andersons Marathon has adjusted measurements and releases of n-hexane and ammonia at its facilities.