LENEXA, KANSAS, U.S. — Ag Processing, Inc. (AGP) has entered a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 under which AGP has agreed to implement specific preventative measures to ensure future compliance and improve accidental spill response.

The agreement comes after EPA inspectors identified Clean Water Act (CWA) violations at eight AGP vegetable oil and biodiesel production, processing, refining and storage facilities in Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. According to the EPA, the eight facilities have a storage capacity greater than 1 million gallons, from which a discharge of oil to navigable waters may cause substantial harm to the environment.

AGP will be required to pay a civil penalty of $500,000 and has agreed to install and maintain a $200,000 electronic level monitoring and control system on seven large, crude soybean oil storage tanks at its Everly and Emmetsburg, Iowa, U.S., facilities. Additionally, at each facility AGP has agreed to work with EPA Region 7 to ensure compliance with Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure and Facility Response Plan regulations, as well as contract with a third party to conduct compliance audits.

The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.