Louisiana Fertilizer Manufacturer Ordered to Spend Over $84 Million to Reduce Environmental Impact Resulting from Hazardous Waste Issues

Louisiana – On July 14, 2022, the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) announced a settlement with PCS Nitrogen Fertilizer L.P. (PCS Nitrogen), to remedy hazardous waste issues at its former fertilizer manufacturing facility in Geismar, Louisiana.

This settlement resolves alleged Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) violations at the facility, including PCS Nitrogen’s failure to properly identify and manage certain waste streams as hazardous wastes. Corrosive (acidic) hazardous wastes were illegally mixed with process wastewater and phosphogypsum from the production of phosphoric acid. The waste mixture that resulted was disposed of in surface impoundments. Over the next several years, the settlement requires PCS Nitrogen to treat over one billion pounds of acidic hazardous process wastewater.

The acidic hazardous process wastewaters will be contained in the phosphogypsum stack system before being treated at the newly built water treatment plant. The agreement also governs the long-term closure of PCS Nitrogen’s phosphogypsum stacks and surface impoundments for more than 50 years and requires PCS Nitrogen to ensure that financial resources are available for the facility’s environmentally sound closure. PCS Nitrogen will provide over $84 million in financial assurance to secure the full cost of closure and will pay a $1,510,023 civil penalty.

“This settlement requires treatment of all contaminated wastewater accumulated at the PCS Nitrogen facility, thus protecting sensitive wetlands and the Mississippi River,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “PCS Nitrogen also will secure the full cost of closure with $84 million in financial assurance to protect taxpayers, demonstrating our continued commitment to hold this industry accountable both for past violations and future contingencies.”

“This settlement requires PCS Nitrogen to treat over one billion pounds of hazardous waste and take steps to ensure that the long-term closure of its facility is protective of the environment,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This is a very important outcome as the facility is located in an area prone to hurricanes and the financial assurance secured will protect taxpayers from paying future closure and cleanup costs.”

“This settlement represents a lot of hard work by LDEQ enforcement and legal staffs who joined their EPA counterparts in drafting this settlement,” said LDEQ Secretary Dr. Chuck Carr Brown. “It will provide a protective solution for decades to come.”

From the 1960s to 2018, PCS Nitrogen produced phosphate products for agriculture and industry in Louisiana, including phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizer, using processes that generated large amounts of acidic wastewater and a solid material known as phosphogypsum. The phosphogypsum was deposited and is still present in large piles (some over 100 acres in size and 200 feet high) known as phosphogypsum stacks. The phosphogypsum stacks and surface impoundments hold acidic wastewater. The facility is currently being closed.

The settlement requires PCS Nitrogen to follow RCRA requirements, including making RCRA hazardous waste determinations and managing all hazardous wastes in its phosphogypsum stacks and surface impoundments. The terms of the consent decree, as well as administrative agreements, permits, and/or orders issued by LDEQ under its authorized state program, will govern this injunctive relief, which will be subject to EPA’s authorities under RCRA or any other applicable law. Furthermore, PCS Nitrogen has completed certain site assessment and remediation activities in accordance with EPA and Louisiana regulations.

The EPA has reached judicial and administrative settlements with 13 phosphate fertilizer plants across the country, all of which required extensive injunctive relief and financial assurance to bring their operations into compliance with RCRA.

A consent decree formalizing this settlement with PCS Nitrogen was filed today in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, and it is subject to a 45-day public comment period and federal court approval. The consent decree is available on the Justice Department’s website at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.