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The Arkansas Department of Energy & Environment – Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) and Riceland Foods, Inc. (“Riceland”) entered into a November 6th Consent Administrative Order (“CAO”) addressing alleged violations of an air permit. See LIS No. 23-087.
The CAO provides that Riceland owns and operates a large agricultural products storage and manufacturing complex (“Facility”) in Stuttgart, Arkansas.
The Facility is stated to operate pursuant to an air permit.
DEQ personnel are stated to have conducted a compliance inspection of the Facility on April 6th. The inspection covered the reporting period of January 1, 2021, through February 28, 2023.
Records reviewed during the inspection are stated to have indicated that the Facility exceeded the rolling 12-month volatile organic compound (“VOC”) emission rate total in January 2021, violating Specific Condition 21 of an air permit. Further, records reviewed during the inspection are stated to have indicated that the Facility exceeded the rolling 12-month VOC emission rate of rice bran processed in the extraction plant during 24 months of the reporting period covered by the inspection. This is stated to violate Specific Condition 43 of an air permit.
Riceland is stated to neither admit nor deny the factual and legal allegations contained in the CAO.
The CAO requires that to demonstrate compliance with Specific Condition 21 of the current air permit the Facility shall submit rolling 12-month VOC records required by Specific Condition 22. The records are required to be submitted for three consecutive months beginning with the month following the effective date of the CAO.
To demonstrate compliance with Specific 43 of the current air permit, the Facility is required to submit rolling 12-month VOC records required by Specific Condition 44. Such records are required to be submitted for three consecutive months beginning with the month following the effective date of the CAO.
A civil penalty of $19,200 is assessed.
A copy of the CAO can be downloaded here.
