December 24, 1996

KALAMA CHEMICAL AGREES TO PAY PENALTY, INSTALL POLLUTION EQUIPMENT

LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) -- Kalama Chemical Co. will pay $1.5 million in fines and to install new air pollution equipment next year, federal and regional authorities said.

The company failed to adequately control and monitor releases of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, from the late 1980s through the early 1990s, according to charges by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The company did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in its settlement with the EPA, the Department of Justice and the Southwest Air Pollution Control Authority.

Under the agreement, the company will spend $1 million on air pollution equipment that will cut the plant's carbon monoxide emissions 90 percent, benzene emissions 50 percent and toluene emissions 25 percent to 30 percent. Toluene and carbon monoxide also can be toxic.

The company also agreed to pay $555,000 in fines.

"This is one of the largest settlements under the Clean Air Act in this region," said Dean Ingemansen, an EPA lawyer.

The settlement stems from audits the EPA conducted in 1991 and 1994 that revealed the company failed to have a plan to monitor "fugitive" releases of benzene from valves, pipe fittings and pumps and to keep adequate maintenance records.

The audit also found that the company failed to control emissions of benzene at a rail-car loading station or at storage tanks.

Mark Fleischauer, Kalama Chemical's lawyer, said the company has corrected the problems the led to the EPA filing suit in early 1995.

"We are very pleased to be spending this money on these emission control points. The reductions we're talking about are significant and they are emissions of concern," Fleischauer said.

Kalama Chemical makes additives for plywood adhesives, food flavorings, fragrances, medicines and soft drinks. It burns hazardous wastes to avoid disposal costs and to generate heat, reducing the company's natural gas bill.