US food company gets US$4 million penalty for ammonia accidents

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HOUSTON: US food company Tyson Foods has reached a nearly US$4-million settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act regulations on ammonia refrigeration systems at 23 facilities in four states, it was announced on Friday.

The EPA said in a release that the settlement is a result of eight separate incidents between 2006 and 2010, in which anhydrous ammonia was accidentally released at various Tyson plants, resulting in one fatality, multiple injuries and property damage, according to a report on the news website Arkansasonline.com.

According to China’s Xinhua news agency, the environmental protection agency said that it found multiple occasions of noncompliance with the Clean Air Act’s chemical accident- prevention provisions.

Failure to follow the general industry standards to test or replace safety valves and improperly co- located gas-fired boilers were among the violations cited by the EPA.

The settlement agreement requires Tyson to pay a civil penalty of US$3.95 million and create a special programme for meeting risk management programme requirements of the federal Clean Air Act, Xinhua quoted the report.

The company also is required to spend at least US$300,000 to purchase anhydrous ammonia-related emergency response equipment for fire departments in eight communities.

Tyson Foods, based in Springdale, Arkansas, is the country’s leading processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork.

Anhydrous ammonia is considered a poisonous gas, but is commonly used in industrial refrigeration systems. — Bernama