The EPA recently announced that food producer Hiland Dairy Foods Company LLC of Norfolk, Nebraska, agreed to pay a $93,107 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act’s (CAA) chemical accident prevention provisions.
Reducing risks from accidental releases of hazardous substances at industrial and chemical facilities is a top priority for the EPA, which identified this goal as one of its National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives in 2024.
As part of Hiland’s operations, the company stores more than 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia, a regulated toxic substance, and failed to comply with regulations intended to protect the surrounding community from accidental releases, according to an EPA news release.
Anhydrous ammonia is corrosive to the skin, eyes, and lungs. High levels of exposure may lead to choking and death.
The company’s alleged violations include:
- Failure to conduct compliance audits at least every 3 years,
- Failure to update emergency contacts, and
- Failure to conduct and document emergency response coordination activities.
“It is critical that companies that handle dangerous chemicals comply with the safety requirements of the [CAA],” said EPA Region 7 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division Director David Cozad in the release. “EPA is committed to protecting communities from potentially catastrophic releases, particularly those communities disproportionately affected by environmental harm.”
The community surrounding Hiland’s facility has been identified by the EPA “as a potentially sensitive area” because of its proximity to a Superfund site and exposures to toxic air releases and ozone. The EPA is strengthening enforcement in overburdened communities to address disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of industrial operations on vulnerable populations.
The CAA’s risk management plan (RMP) rule regulations require facilities that use regulated toxic and/or flammable substances to:
- Develop an RMP that identifies and specifies:
- The potential effects of a chemical accident
- Steps they’re taking to prevent an accident
- Emergency response procedures should an accident occur
These plans provide valuable information to local fire, police, and emergency response personnel to prepare for and respond to chemical emergencies in their community.
The RMP rule categorizes processes into three programs to ensure individual processes are subject to requirements that appropriately match their size and the risks they pose. As a result, different facilities covered by the regulations may have different requirements depending on their processes.
- Program Level 1 applies to processes that wouldn’t affect the public in a worst-case release (in the language of Part 68, processes “with no public receptors within the distance to an endpoint from a worst-case release”) and that have had no accidents with specific off-site consequences within the past 5 years. Program 1 imposes limited hazard assessment requirements and minimal accident prevention and emergency response requirements.
- Program Level 2 applies to processes not eligible for Program 1 or subject to Program 3. Program 2 imposes streamlined accident prevention program requirements, as well as additional hazard assessment, management, and emergency response requirements.
- Program Level 3 applies to processes not eligible for Program 1 and processes that are either subject to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) standard under federal or state OSHA programs or classified as 1 of 10 specified North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes. Program 3 imposes an accident prevention program, as well as additional hazard assessment, management, and emergency response requirements.
RMP elements
The length and content of the RMPs submitted will vary depending on the number of processes and program levels at a facility.
Any facility with one or more covered processes must include in its RMP:
- An executive summary;
- The registration for the facility;
- The certification statement;
- A worst-case scenario analysis for each Program 1 process, at least one worst-case scenario analysis to cover all Program 2 and 3 processes involving regulated toxic substances, and at least one worst-case scenario analysis to cover all Program 2 and 3 processes involving regulated flammables;
- The 5-year accident history for each process; and
- Information concerning emergency response at the facility.
Any facility with at least one covered process in Program 2 or 3 must also include:
- At least one alternative release scenario analysis for each regulated toxic substance in Program 2 or 3 processes and at least one alternative release scenario analysis to cover all regulated flammables in Program 2 or 3 processes,
- A summary of the prevention program for each Program 2 process, and
- A summary of the prevention program for each Program 3 process.
The “EPA has found that many regulated facilities are not adequately managing the risks that they pose or ensuring the safety of their facilities in a way that is sufficient to protect surrounding communities,” the Agency news release says. “Approximately 150 catastrophic accidents occur per year among regulated facilities. These accidents result in fatalities, injuries, significant property damage, evacuations, sheltering in place, or environmental damage. Many more accidents with lesser effects also occur, demonstrating a clear risk posed by these facilities.”
For more information, see the EPA’s RMP rule website.