The Facility is a nitrogenous fertilizer manufacturing facility that produces anhydrous ammonia, urea solutions, urea-ammonium nitrate, and by-product gaseous carbon dioxide. The Facility also produces intermediates (including nitric acid and ammonium nitrate solution) during the manufacture of the above products. Based on the quantity of anhydrous ammonia present at the Facility, the Facility is subject to the following requirements of the general duty clause:
a. Identify hazards which may result from accidental releases using appropriate hazard assessment techniques;
b. Design and maintain a safe facility taking such steps as are necessary to prevent releases; and
c. Minimize the consequences of accidental releases which do occur.
This release was determined, by the facility’s investigation, to have been caused by “a failure to follow Operating Procedure XXXXXXX.”
On June 2, 2020, Respondent’s Operations Department began the process of starting the Upgrade #2 Plant. The #2 Urea Plant was started at 10:41 p.m. on June 2, 2020, followed by the #2 Acid Plant at 12:19 a.m. on June 3, 2020. Ammonia was introduced to the NOx abator (SCR control system) associated with the #2 Acid Plant at 12:23 a.m. on June 3, 2020, to control NOx emissions per the operating procedure. When the #2 Acid Plant reached full rates at 2:05 a.m., the operators noticed that the NOx concentration levels were elevated (more than 40 ppm). Troubleshooting was taking place by the operations group to determine the reason for the elevated NOx. In response to the elevated NOx, the flow of ammonia was increased to the SCR to reduce the concentration. The increase in ammonia flow to the SCR did not show an expected decrease in NOx concentration.
At approximately 2:30 p.m. on June 3, 2020, Operations communicated the concern of elevated NOx concentration to the Environmental Coordinator. During the conversation, Operations also informed the Environmental Coordinator that the Stack ammonia (NH3)Analyzer was showing elevated ammonia slippage (~200 ppm), indicating there was sufficient ammonia flowing into the NOx abatement system to control NOx under normal operating conditions.
During the “3:00 p.m. Maintenance/Operations” meeting, the Environmental Team notified the Operation’s Department Superintendent that the elevated ammonia slippage had the potential to result in a reportable release of ammonia. The Superintendent immediately notified the Shift Supervisor, and notifications were made to all agencies as the plant was shut down and secured.
On June 3, 2020, anhydrous ammonia was accidentally released into the atmosphere from the stack associated with the #2 Acid Plant, and the same was in excess of the reportable threshold of 100 pounds.
During the release, operations personnel failed to identify excess NH3usage when elevated NOx levels did not react to the increase in ammonia feed to the SCR unit. In the Facility’s Incident Report, Respondent stated the above resulted from “a failure to follow Operating Procedure No. ACOP-2004.” Item IX.D of Operating Procedure No. ACOP-2004 specifies “excess NH3 usage may indicate a leak in the heat train” and constitutes a plant shutdown as described in the Emergency Shutdown Procedures section of the Operating Procedures which would have mitigated the duration and quantity of NH3 release.
In the Incident Report, Respondent identified 19 recommended actions, all of which were completed by the end of September 2020. The recommended actions included retraining operations personnel on Operating Procedure No. ACOP-2004, establishing ammonia slip control parameters for the NOx Abatement system, updating tools and procedures for converting ammonia concentrations from ppm into lbs/hr, updating of operating procedures for the NOx Abatement system, and review and update other Facility processes in which it may be possible to create an environmental release due to not having environmental release limits established in the procedures.
VIOLATIONS
Count 1: General Duty Clause [Clean Air Act § 112(r)(1)] – Design and maintain a safe facility taking such steps as are necessary to prevent releases.
Operating Procedure No. ACOP-2004 did not identify corrective measures which would have allowed trained Facility personnel to mitigate the duration and quantity of the release.37. Therefore, the Respondent violated the General Duty Clause of Section 112(r)(1)of the CAA by failing to design and maintain a safe facility as necessary to prevent the release.
CIVIL PENALTY AND TERMS OF SETTLEMENT
Upon consideration of the entire record herein, and upon consideration (in addition to such other factors as justice may require) of the size of the business, the economic impact of the penalty on the business, the violator’s full compliance history and good faith efforts to comply (including Respondent’s prompt corrective actions as described above), the duration of the violation, payment by the violator of penalties previously assessed for the same violation, the economic benefit of noncompliance, and the seriousness of the violation, the parties agree that thirty-nine thousand and ten dollars ($39,010) is an appropriate penalty to resolve this matter.
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