St. Helens, OR (6/25/2019) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that Dyno Nobel, a Delaware-based chemical manufacturing company, has agreed to correct environmental violations, paying a civil penalty of $492,000 and providing local communities with $939,852 in emergency equipment. EPA alleges that Dyno Noble violated federal laws meant to protect the public and first responders from dangerous chemicals like the anhydrous ammonia manufactured and stored at the company’s St. Helens, Oregon, facility.
The facility makes anhydrous ammonia and related chemical products used for fertilizer, refrigerant, and other agricultural and industrial applications. Exposure to high concentrations of anhydrous ammonia – commonly used in industrial refrigeration, agricultural, and cold storage facilities – is immediately dangerous to life and health and can lead to serious lung damage and even death.
“Facilities that store and use hazardous materials like anhydrous ammonia have a special obligation to follow regulations designed to protect our communities and environment from potentially catastrophic consequences of accidents,” said Chris Hladick, regional administrator for EPA Region 10. “Failure to comply with the law puts first responders and members of the surrounding community in harm’s way.”
Among the 14 counts in its complaint against the company, the EPA alleged that Dyno Nobel violated both the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) by its failure to immediately report to federal, state and local agencies large, unplanned ammonia releases in 2010 and 2015, as well as its failure to accurately estimate and report the total amount of routine ammonia releases from the facility to EPA’s publicly-available Toxic Release Inventory.
The EPA also charged Dyno Nobel with failing to comply with Clean Air Act Section 112(r) requirements that facilities storing more than 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia maintain adequate Risk Management Programs to ensure their workers are adequately trained and that ammonia processes are properly operated and maintained to minimize the risk of a spill or accidental release. The deficiencies included failure to adequately maintain certain equipment, regularly test certain equipment, and develop and implement written operating procedures for certain aspects of its operations. The information in a facility’s Risk Management Plan helps local fire, police, and emergency response personnel prepare for and respond to chemical accidents and is useful to citizens in understanding the chemical hazards in communities.
In addition to paying a $492,000 civil penalty, as part of the settlement, the company will provide authorities in Columbia County in Oregon with $939,852 in emergency response equipment, file revised estimates of its total ammonia releases, update its Risk Management Plan, and hire a third party to audit its compliance with chemical release reporting, emergency response, and risk management regulations.
The emergency equipment the company has agreed to purchase will improve the ability of local emergency responders in Columbia County, Oregon, to respond to releases of ammonia and other hazardous chemicals from the Dyno Nobel facility and other facilities in the area, thereby decreasing dangers and risks associated with releases of anhydrous ammonia and other hazardous substances from the facilities.
This case falls under EPA’s Chemical Accident Risk Reduction National Compliance Initiative, an agency effort which focuses on reducing the risk to human health and the environment by minimizing the likelihood of chemical accidents.
In 2018 Dyno Nobel paid a $250,000 criminal penalty related to the 2015 unplanned ammonia release.
Contact Information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)
