Mosaic Fertilizer will spend approximately $30 million on air pollution controls that are expected to eliminate harmful emissions from sulfuric acid production plants in Uncle Sam, La., and Mulberry, Fla., the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced. The company will also pay a civil penalty of $2.4 million to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations.
Under a settlement filed today in federal court in New Orleans, Mosaic will install state-of-the-art pollution control equipment, upgrade existing controls and make multiple modifications to its operating procedures to meet new, lower sulfur dioxide emission limits at its Uncle Sam facility. In addition, Mosaic agreed that it will permanently cease sulfuric acid production at its Mulberry sulfuric acid plant in Bartow, Fla. It also will not use the emission reduction credits associated with that shut down to enable increased emissions at other facilities. These measures are expected to eliminate more than 7,600 tons of sulfur dioxide annually from the two plants.
�This settlement represents another important step by EPA as we address non-compliance with the Clean Air Act by sulfuric acid manufacturers,� said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA�s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. �The more than 7,000 tons per year of sulfur dioxide reductions secured by this settlement will produce significant and measurable public health benefits for downwind communities.�