Georgia-Pacific settles EPA Clean Air Act Claims at an Arkansas facility

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, announced a settlement with Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific of alleged violations of the Clean Air Act set forth in a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. The complaint alleges that the violations occurred at Georgia-Pacific’s paper mill in Crossett, Arkansas.

According to an EPA news release, the complaint and settlement are the result of an EPA inspection of this facility in 2015. Under the settlement, Georgia-Pacific is required to take steps to correct the violations, implement a mitigation project to reduce hydrogen sulfide emissions and implement three supplemental environmental projects to further control hydrogen sulfide emissions. 

The EPA reports that Georgia-Pacific will also pay $600,000 in civil penalties, half to the United States and half to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. EPA and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality are planning to have a public meeting in Crossett to discuss the settlement and answer questions. 

EPA’s 2015 inspection revealed, among other concerns, a lack of air pollution controls at two wood pulp washers at the facilities. The settlement requires Georgia-Pacific, among other things, to install the appropriate pollution controls on its washers, update leak-control and compliance-monitoring procedures, and conduct emissions and performance testing on other control systems.

The measures required by the settlement are designed to achieve reductions of hazardous air pollutants released from the facilities, the EPA reports. In connection with the settlement, Georgia-Pacific also installed a $2.9 million mitigation project to reduce hydrogen sulfide emissions and odors from its wastewater discharges.

In addition, the EPA reports that Georgia-Pacific will implement three supplemental environmental projects, costing nearly $2 million, to reduce the potential for hydrogen sulfide emissions from its processes.