EPA: Andersons Marathon Fined for TRI Violations at 4 Sites

By DTN Staff

OAKHURST, N.J. (DTN) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a $209,241 settlement with The Andersons Marathon Holdings LLC facility in Denison, Iowa, as part of a broader $1,731,256 settlement with the company to resolve an alleged 131 Toxics Release Inventory reporting violations at ethanol plants in four states.

Andersons Marathon manufactures ethanol at four facilities located in Logansport, Indiana; Denison, Iowa; Albion, Michigan; and Greenville, Ohio.

EPA said the fine is the largest the agency has obtained to date under the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.

EPA said their Region 7 and Region 5 offices coordinated their investigations of Andersons Marathon's failure to file, failure to file timely, and failure to file accurate EPCRA TRI forms for several chemicals from its fermentation vapor stream.

The company has agreed to pay the more than $1.7 million total penalty between two Consent Agreements and Final Orders. Region 5's action resolves 99 violations and assesses $1,522,015 civil penalty and Region 7's action resolves 32 violations and assesses a $209,241 civil penalty.

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, and toluene. EPA and Andersons Marathon also agreed as to how the company 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.

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