Indiana Ethanol Facility Fined $9,600 for Clean Air Act Violations
- by Seth Slabaugh, November 11, 2014, The Star Press
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"307","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 200px; height: 115px; margin: 3px 10px; float: left;","title":"Photo: randolph-county.org"}}]]Cardinal Ethanol has paid a $9,600 fine to settle a complaint that it violated its Clean Air Act operating permit.
The penalty is insignificant in light of the grassroots, investor-owned company's profitability — $26.4 million net income for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2013.
President Jeff Painter said revenue and income data for fiscal year 2014 are not available because an independent audit has not been completed.
But according to Securities and Exchange Commission information, the company's net income for the third quarter of fiscal year 2014 totaled $29.4 million.
Until now, Cardinal Ethanol had been the only biofuels plant in East Central Indiana that had not paid a civil penalty for alleged air or water violations. Those violations usually occur during planned shutdowns for maintenance or start-ups.
"We paid the assessment in order to expedite this settlement," Painter said.
According to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the company did not take reasonable steps to restore an air pollution scrubber's operation to normal operation as soon as practical during planned shutdowns in 2011-13.
The complaint also accuses the company of failing to record visible emissions of bag house exhaust around Christmas time in 2012.