Muscatine's biggest air polluter promises plant upgrades

Facing hefty fines from the State of Iowa, Muscatine's biggest air polluter promised Tuesday (5/24) to spend $100 million over the next five years to lower emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and fine particulate matter of less than 2.5 microns (PM 2.5).

Grain Processing Corporation officials said the company will build a new $75-million corn dryer and make $20 million in upgrades to its boilers to lower air pollution from the plant. Another $5 million is to be spent on controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

The Muscatine Journal newspaper quoted Gage Kent, CEO and chairman of GPC's parent company, Muscatine Foods Corp., at the news conference as saying: “We like the smell of our own cooking, but we need to recognize the fact that not everyone does. This is going to make us a little less noticeable.”

The Iowa Attorney General's office is considering how much to fine the Muscatine firm after receiving a recommendation for action against GPC from the Iowa Environmental Commission in April.

CLICK HERE to download the IDNR's referral recommendation on GPC air quality and wastewater violations:

The alleged violations included:

• Failure to obtain Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits.
• Failure to comply with the emission limits of air quality construction permits.
• Failure to comply with the notification, reporting and emission reductions requirements associated with the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Miscellaneous Organic Chemical Manufacturing (known as MON).
• Failure to obtain a construction permit prior to the construction of a 1.9-million-gallon anaerobic settler of GPC's wastewater treatment system.

According to the IDNR report to the commission, "GPC has numerous air emission sources at its facility," and "is considered to be a major source of air pollutants under both the PSD and Title V Operating permit programs."

Pollutants emitted by GPC include PM 2.5, particulate matter less than 10 microns (PM 10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and hazardous air pollutants (HAP's).

GPC emits more than 1,300 tons - 2.7 million pounds - of PM 2.5 annually, which has resulted in frequent exceedances of air quality standards monitored at the nearby Garfield Elementary School.

Plant officials Tuesday said the new corn dryer would reduce fine particulate emissions by 35 percent and sulfur dioxide emissions by 25 percent. By 2020, according to company officials, overall air pollution from the facility is to be only 18 percent of the current level.

According to the April report to the environmental commission, GPC entered into a consent decree with the State of Iowa in 2007 for violations "similar to those in this referral but for different emission units at the facility." In that earlier litigation, GPC agreed to pay a $538,000 civil penalty.

"In addition, GPC has been issued numerous Notice of Violation letters relating to air quality and wastewater violations," the IDNR reported.

The GPC corn-processing facility in the city produces: maltodextrins; corn syrup solids and starches; ethyl alcohol; corn oil; and animal nutritional ingredients.

According to its web site, the firm "remains privately-owned, with the third generation of the Kent family holding leadership positions in the management of the company. GPC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Muscatine Foods Corporation, Muscatine, Iowa. Additional affiliates include Kent Nutrition Group, Inc. and Precision Foods, Inc."