The Texas Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency resolved their enforcement action against Pasadena-based Air Products, LLC. Under a consent decree filed with the U.S. District Court in Houston, Air Products must pay civil penalties to the U.S. and the State of Texas totaling $1.485 million.   The plaintiffs’ legal action against Air Products stems from the defendant’s failure to properly store, transport and manage the hazardous wastes generated at its Pasadena-based chemical manufacturing facility.  According to court documents filed by the plaintiffs, between 1990 and September 2009, Air Products purchased sulfuric acid from a phosphoric acid facility next to its Pasadena plant. Air Products disposed of used acid via a pipeline that connected the defendant’s facility with the acid plant, which was owned by Agrifos Fertilizer, Inc. Before the spent acid was returned to Agrifos, it was stored in tanks at the Air Products facility.  Because of its corrosiveness and toxicity, the spent acid is classified as a hazardous waste. The Agrifos facility, however, was not permitted as a hazardous waste treatment, storage or disposal facility under either the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) or the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act. As a result, the facility was not legally authorized to receive the spent acid.  According to state and federal investigators, Agrifos disposed of much of the hazardous acid waste into land-based containers as well as ponds and ditches. In August and September 2007, the hazardous fluids overflowed, breaching a retaining wall and discharging approximately 54 million gallons of excess rain, process wastewater and partially treated process wastewater from the containers. The discharged wastewater reached the Houston Ship Channel.  Because Agrifos was not licensed, Air Products could not legally dispose of its hazardous waste by returning it to Agrifos, which is why Air Products faced environmental enforcement action for the overflow incident at Agrifos’ facility. The joint State-federal enforcement action charged Air Products with seven violations of state and federal hazardous waste laws. Today’s consent decree provides for extensive injunctive relief to prevent Air Products from committing similar violations in the future.  Under the consent decree, Air Products is prohibited from sending hazardous waste to Agrifos. The defendant is also barred from transporting hazardous substances for treatment, storage or disposal to any facility that does not have appropriate RCRA or state authorization to receive such materials. In accordance with Texas hazardous waste regulations, Air Products must properly label all tanks that store hazardous waste at its Pasadena facility.  Additionally, Air Products must contact the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to notify regulators about its effort to comply with these requirements. Air Products must also notify the EPA and TCEQ if it disposes of spent sulfuric acid that would otherwise be managed by its on-site Sulfuric Acid Concentration Plant or if it ships spent sulfuric acid off-site.  The consent decree also provides the EPA and the State of Texas the right to enter the defendant’s Pasadena facility to assess its compliance with the decree’s terms. The plaintiffs may verify any data Air Products submitted to them and obtain documentary evidence, including photographs. For five years, Air Products must retain and preserve all documents, records and other information that relate to its compliance with the consent decree.

July 23, 2010 - US-based Agrifos Fertilizer LLC and Shrieve Chemical Group have announced a multi-year agreement for Shrieve to market up to 400,000 STPA of sulphuric acid produced by Agrifos at its Pasadena, Texas plant.  Sometime early next year at the latest Agrifos is expected to halt phosphate production under an US Environmental Protection Agency approved plan.