EPA v. VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY, LLC

Case summary

Valero Renewable Fuels Company, LLC (Valero) operates a fuel grade ethanol dry mill production facility located at 203 West County Road 1100 North, Linden, Indiana (the Facility). The Facility uses the dry mill ethanol production process, where the entire corn grain kernel is ground into flour. The starch in the flour converts to ethanol during the fermentation process, creating carbon dioxide and DDGS. The Facility started operations in approximately September of 2007 and currently produces approximately 110 million gallons of ethanol per year, in addition to ethanol manufacturing by-products such as Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) and Distillers Wet Grains. Valero has owned the Facility since March of 2010. The violations at issue concern the following emissions sources: · two natural gas-fired DDGS dryers (identified as EU039 and EU040), with emissions controlled by a regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) and heat recovery steam generating (HRSG) system (identified as CE003 and exhausting to stack EP003); and · two natural gas-fired DDGS dryers (identified as EU042 and EU043), with emissions controlled by a RTO and HRSG system (identified as CE006 and exhausting to stack EP003). On July 1, 2011, Region 5 issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to Valero for exceeding its allowable NOx emissions limit of 21.45 lbs/hour at RTO systems CE003 and CE006 from March 10, 2010 through January 11, 2011. The NOV also alleged that during the same time period Valero operated RTO systems CE003 and CE006 below the minimum temperature operating requirements of 15100F and 15160F, respectively. The parties held a conference to discuss the NOV on September 7, 2011. As requested by Region 5, Valero submitted additional information to EPA on December 19, 2011. Based on our review of this information, as well as information provided to EPA prior to, and at the Section 113 conference, Region 5 believes that Valero currently complies with the cited permit conditions and Indiana SIP requirements. Under the terms of the settlement in the Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO), Valero will pay a civil penalty of $75,347.16. This action was commanded and concluded through the CAFO.

Defendants (1)

• VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY, LLCNamed in complaintNamed in settlement

Facilities (1)

• VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY DBA VALERO LINDEN PLANT

  203 W CR 1100 N, LINDEN, IN, 47955

  Registry ID: 110028090606

Statutes cited

• CAA 110 — Implementation Plan for National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standards

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY, LLCentered 2013-09-04

  Primary law: CAA

  Federal penalty: $75,347

Timeline (3 milestones)

• 2013-09-04Final Order Issued
• 2013-09-04Complaint Filed/Proposed Order
• 2013-09-05Enforcement Action Data Entered