POET ethanol plant in Western Iowa fined $90K for air quality violations

POET, the world’s largest ethanol producer, has agreed to pay a nearly $90,000 fine to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for releasing pollution into the air at its plant in Menlo, in Western Iowa.

It’s the second time in a year the company has faced fines for emissions control failures at Iowa plants.

Staff at POET’s Menlo plant failed to comply with federal air quality laws by not properly operating a scrubber that limits release of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and hazardous air pollutants (HAP) into the atmosphere, the EPA reported in a news release this week.

The consent agreement and final order filed Nov. 9 says the EPA last year reviewed POET’s facility records and found three periods of time between 2020 and 2022 when the scrubber was using less water than is required to remove the pollutants.

“In response to EPA’s findings, the company corrected the alleged violations and implemented procedures to ensure that the scrubber operates within required parameters,” the news release states.

The company has 30 days from final order to pay the fine.

POET was fined for similar violations at its Iowa Falls plant earlier this year. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources fined the company $10,000 — the maximum administrative penalty allowed for the agency — in May for failing to maintain emission-control devices, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.

Ethanol is made by fermenting corn sugars, which produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct. As the gas is released from the fermenting mash, it contains VOCs and hazardous air pollutants that must be removed before the gas can be released into the atmosphere.

Direct or long-term exposure to VOCs may result in eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches, nausea, organ or central nervous system damage, or cancer, the EPA reported. Hazardous air pollutants are those known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health impacts, such as reproductive effects, birth defects, or adverse environmental effects.

POET, based in Sioux Falls, has 34 bioprocessing facilities across the Midwest, including 12 in Iowa. President Joe Biden visited POET’s Menlo plant last year.

The company signed a deal with the Navigator Heartland Greenway last year to collect CO2 from 18 of POET’s ethanol plants and transport it via pipeline to an underground sequestration site in Illinois. Navigator has since canceled the project, given an uncertain regulatory path for CO2 pipelines.

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