By DAJA STOWE
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Ingredion, a plant-based ingredient maker for food and beverages, has agreed to pay $8 million for over-pollution violations at its Indianapolis facility.
The plant-based ingredient maker was accused of violating the Clean Air Act at its corn wet milling facility on Drover Street by releasing more particulate matter than is allowed by law.
Corn wet milling is a process of breaking corn kernels into their component parts. During this process, microscopic solids or liquid droplets can go into the air and go deep into the lungs and cause serious health problems.
Ingredion said Tuesday it had settled claims by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Justice Department, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office.
The company will pay a civil penalty of $1,139,600 and implement measures of nearly $7 million to reduce and offset unpermitted emissions of particulate matter and comply with lower future PM limits.
Court papers say that Ingredion did not operate and monitor certain equipment as required to minimize air emissions.
“The settlement requires Ingredion to install and operate new equipment to meet PM limits that are lower than the plant’s current permitted limits to implement a modernized compliance management system to address repeated operation and also to monitor failures at the facility and hire an independent auditor to verify the effectiveness of the system,” said the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs said in a release.
The company also committed to mitigating the harm associated with past excess PM emissions by paving onsite unpaved and partially paved roads and parking areas to reduce PM emissions generated by vehicle traffic, which was completed before Tuesday’s filing.
Ingredion is required to contribute $560,400 to the state to support Brownfields redevelopment in and around Marion County, per the release.