116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Red Star Yeast of Cedar Rapids will pay $37K fine, buy gear for first responders after hazardous waste violations
Cedar Rapids plant has grown rapidly, opening new fermentation unit this year
Red Star Yeast Company in Cedar Rapids has agreed to pay a $37,705 fine and buy local first responders $35,864 in equipment as part of a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over hazardous waste violations.
Red Star, which produces yeast for baking, animal and human nutrition and ethanol production, signed a consent decree this month acknowledging the following violations:
- Storage of hazardous waste beyond 90 days without a required permit
- Failure to keep a hazardous waste container closed
- Failure to inspect hazardous waste containers
- Failure to label hazardous wastes
On Jan. 23, EPA inspectors visited the Red Star plant at 950 60th Ave. SW and found three 10,000-gallon tanks of hazardous waste, including one that held selenium-contaminated sludge and two others labeled as “hazardous waste,” according to the consent decree the EPA provided to The Gazette. Selenium is an ingredient added to nutritional yeast.
Red Star has a permit to store large quantities of hazardous waste, but only for 90 days. EPA inspectors found the tanks had been stored on site for 126 days, the agency reported. Another violation was for failure to properly label two tanks to indicate the nature of the hazard.
Inspectors found an aerosol can puncturing unit operating as a satellite accumulation center that was not closed, which is a violation of regulations requiring containers holding hazardous waste to be closed at all times except when adding or removing waste or when temporarily venting the container, the EPA reported.
Red Star agreed to pay the EPA $37,705 within 30 days of the Oct. 23 final order.
The company also will buy $35,864 in emergency response equipment for the Cedar Rapids Fire Department and the Linn County Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team.
“Both entities respond to hazardous waste incidents, including potential spills from the containers or tanks identified as part of the EPA’s January 2023 inspection,” the consent decree says of the first responders.
The fire department and hazmat team prepared a list of equipment that would help in their responses to hazardous waste or other chemical incidents and Red Star submitted that to the EPA as part of a supplemental environmental project. Red Star has 60 days from Oct. 23 to purchase the gear.
The Red Star Yeast production facility in Cedar Rapids is a joint venture of French company Lesaffre and ADM, headquartered in Chicago.
In August, Red Star celebrated the opening of its 10th fermentation unit as part of the fourth major expansion at the Cedar Rapids facility. From 85 employees in 2006, the company now has 300, with 157 of them working for Red Star and others who are contractors or who work for ADM.
The plant was built next to ADM’s corn-processing plant, which supplies corn syrup Red Star ferments to make yeast.
Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com
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