Kansas, DOJ Reach Settlement with Bunge North America

$13.9 Million Multi-State Settlement Results in Cleaner Air

A multi-state Clean Air Act (CAA) settlement has been reached with oilseed processor Bunge North America Inc. and three of its subsidiaries, which will eliminate more than 2,200 tons of harmful pollution emissions nationwide per year when fully implemented. The $13.9 million settlement covers 12 plants in eight states, including a soybean processing plant in Emporia. 

“Kansans are committed to a clean, healthy environment,” said Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. “We’re proud of this commitment, especially because it’s shared by our business community and agricultural producers. This agreement builds on that commitment and will ensure a healthier state now and in the future.”

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has alleged that at some or all of these Bunge facilities, subsidiaries violated the CAA by constructing major modifications that increased emissions without obtaining pre-construction permits and without complying with applicable standards of performance for new air pollution sources.

 “This settlement will result in healthier air in Kansas,” said Roderick L. Bremby, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “We are dedicated to promoting compliance with the environmental standards that help safeguard the health of every Kansan.”  

 The emission reduction projects at all 12 plants will cost an estimated total of $12 million. Bunge will also pay a $625,000 civil penalty, $22,000 of which will be received by Kansas. In addition, Bunge will spend more than $1.25 million to implement supplemental environmental projects to achieve additional environmental benefits. These projects will total $93,335 in Kansas. 

KDHE will supervise the implementation of these projects in Kansas, which will include retrofitting diesel school buses and other diesel vehicles, and environmental education activities. The entities that will receive supplemental environmental projects include:

• Emporia School District (USD 253); $22,640.36
• Southern Lyon County School District, $16,065
• Kansas Association for Conservation and Environment, $44,630

The settlement includes ten other soybean processing plants, each located in Decatur, Ala.; Marks, Miss.; Destrehan, La.; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Delphos, Ohio; Marion, Ohio; Decatur, Ind.; Morristown, Ind.; Cairo, Ill.; and Danville, Ill. – as well as a corn dry mill extraction plant also located in Danville, Ill.

In May 2003, Kansas entered into a settlement agreement with DOJ against Bunge.  The DOJ lodged the consent decree Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Urbana, where the Danville plants are located. The consent decree will be subject to a 30-day public comment period and subsequent judicial approval. It is available on the DOJ website at www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html. 

Bunge, a multi-state agribusiness based in St. Louis, is the North American operating arm of multinational corporation Bunge Limited, and a leading oilseed processor, corn dry miller, and U.S. exporter of soybeans and soybean-derived products.

Back to KDHE News Release Index