The Company owns and operates a fruit processing plant and controlled temperature storage warehouse, near a mixed business-residential area approximately one half mile northeast of a college campus and approximately one-half mile east of a downtown area. The facility uses anhydrous ammonia in a “closed-loop” refrigeration system. According to the Respondent, as of February 2, 2016, the refrigeration system was expanded and contains up to 21,610 pounds of anhydrous ammonia. Before the 2016 modification, the system had contained up to 16,500 pounds of anhydrous ammonia, distributed through interconnected refrigeration vessels, piping, and other components.
On September 7, 1999, Respondent submitted an initial Program 3 RMP for its use, storage, and handling of anhydrous ammonia at the Facility (the” 1999 RMP”) and reported that it utilized 18,088 pounds of anhydrous ammonia. In a letter to EPA postmarked December 5, 2006, Respondent declared that the actual total system inventory of anhydrous ammonia in the process was less than 8,000 pounds, i.e., less than the threshold quantity (10,000 lbs.) for anhydrous ammonia, and requested that the ammonia refrigeration process be de-registered from the Risk Management Program. EPA allowed the de-registration, with an effective date of December 5, 2006.
On March 4, 2011, Respondent re-registered the ammonia refrigeration process, listing the total system inventory of anhydrous ammonia as 16,500 pounds. Accordingly, the anhydrous ammonia Process at the Facility is a “covered process” subject to the RMP provisions of Part 68 because Respondent “uses,” “stores,”‘ and “handles” the RMP chemical anhydrous ammonia in the Process in an amount greater than 10,000 pounds.