Chemtrade to spend $6m to comply with US regs

05 November 2008 22:10  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Canadian sulphuric acid producer Chemtrade Logistics has agreed to spend $6m (€4.6m) at its five plants to comply with new US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission standards, the company said on Wednesday.

Chemtrade said in its quarterly earnings statement that it was also paying an unspecified civil penalty that was "not material".

Chemtrade shut down its Beaumont, Texas, plant on 21 August after an explosion that injured two workers. The company initially expected to restart the plant in November but moved the restart date to the end of the year because of permitting hurdles.

The Beaumont site is the largest Chemtrade plant.

Chemtrade said it will begin to bring its plants into compliance with the EPA regulations in December 2009. Bringing the plants into compliance will take three years, the company said.

The company said the money would be spent largely on its Riverton plant in Chemtrade's Riverton, Wyoming plant into compliance.

Chemtrade said the agreement with the EPA is part of a broader deal between the federal agency and the US sulphuric acid industry, though it did not provide specifics of the agreement.

In July 2007, DuPont agreed to pay a civil penalty of $4m and make $66m worth of air pollution control improvements at four sulphur products plants to settle federal environmental allegations, according to US and DuPont officials.

($1 = €0.77)

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By: Lane Kelley
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