The United States filed a proposed Modification to the Consent Decree with Defendants, Buckeye Egg Farm, L.P., Croton Egg Farm, LLC, and Anton Pohlmann (Original Defendants), and Ohio Fresh Eggs (OFE), for their commercial egg-laying operations in Ohio to resolve Clean Air Act violations at several of their barns in Ohio that house egg-laying chickens. Shortly before entry of the Consent Decree in 2004, OFE acquired ownership and legally assumed all obligations under the Consent Decree. The proposed Modification adds OFE as a Defendant to the Consent Decree, and addresses violations by OFE at its egg-laying operations in Ohio. The CD required OFE to, among other things, install particulate matter (PM) control equipment and implement best management practices to reduce ammonia emissions from the barns. In 2017, Region 5 received a request from Trillium Farms, an entity leasing OFE?s facilities, requesting termination of the CD. Region 5 conducted an inspection of the facilities and performed a thorough review of compliance, finding numerous violations of the CD, many of which are subject to stipulated penalties.
EPA identified OFE?s violations of the CD for which stipulated penalties could be assessed as: 1) failure to operate particulate matter controls at the facilities; and 2) failure to submit quarterly reports for the facilities from at least October 2017 through June 2020.
In settlement of this case, the United States is requiring restrictions on the number of bir