Washington, D.C. — Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. has reached an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice to resolve claims under the Clean Air Act. PotashCorp subsidiaries PCS Nitrogen Fertilizer, AA Sulfuric Inc., and White Springs Agricultural Chemicals Inc. are required to install, upgrade, and operate state-of-the-art pollution reduction measures, as well as install emissions monitors at eight sulfuric acid plants across facilities in Geismar, La. (one plant), White Springs, Fla. (four plants), and Aurora, N.C. (three plants). The three companies will spend an estimated $50 million on these measures, and will pay a $1.3 million civil penalty. The settlement also includes a “supplemental environmental project,” estimated to cost between $2.5-$4 million, to protect the community around a PCS Nitrogen nitric acid plant in Geismar, and requires PCS Nitrogen to install and operate equipment to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia. The settlement is the 10th reached under EPA’s National Acid Manufacturing Plant Initiative, and the 7th settlement addressing pollution from sulfuric acid plants. EPA said the PotashCorp settlement covers more sulfuric acid production capacity – roughly 24,000 tons per day, or approximately 14 percent of total U.S. capacity – than all previous sulfuric acid settlements under this initiative combined. The settlement also resolves alleged violations based on Louisiana law at Geismar, and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality will receive $350,000 of the $1.3 million penalty. PotashCorp said it chose to cooperate with authorities rather than litigate, and noted that other major producers have gone through this same process.
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