Eastern Iowa company fined for Clean Water Act violations

A Muscatine company has agreed to pay a $129,000 civil penalty for violations of the federal Clean Water Act that occurred in 2011.

Grain Processing Corp. failed to comply with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) monitoring requirements by taking unrepresentative flow measurements and not conducting settleability tests.

Grain Processing, which manufactures corn-based ethyl alcohol, maltodextrins, corn syrup solids, and starches, also failed to maintain all facilities and control systems in good working order. The company exceeded the effluent limitations for biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, temperature, and pH.

Region 7 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Grain Processing became compliant with the Clean Water Act after the agency issued an order to the company on July 29, 2011, requiring it to correct the violations.

"Discharge permits are one of the Clean Water Act's most important tools to protect our waters' health and productivity," said EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks.  "EPA takes NPDES violations very seriously."

By agreeing to the settlement with the EPA, Grain Processing has certified that it will remain in compliance with the Clean Water Act.

Grain Processing's effluent limitation violations negatively impact the Mississippi River. Operations and maintenance violations, such as malfunctioning equipment, and failure to comply with monitoring requirements leads to situations where the waste water treatment plant's operations, including the pollutants in the effluent, are not accurately known or documented.