EPA v. DARAMIC - APO/CAFO

Case summary

EPA entered into an Administrative Consent Order (ACO) and a Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) with Daramic, LLC (Daramic) of Corydon, Indiana to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations. The CAFO alleges that Daramic violated its Title V Permit by failing to adequately capture and route emissions of Trichloroethylene (TCE) to the facility's emission control device. Daramic owns and operates a plastic sheet manufacturing facility in Corydon, Indiana. The facility utilizes TCE, a strong solvent and toxic VOC, to extract oil from within the sheets. In 2017, Daramic was the largest source of airborne TCE emissions in the United States, emitting more TCE into the air than the next 16 largest TCE polluters combined. During this settlement, EPA developed a risk assessment model of the area around Daramic's facility based on the facility's 2014 emissions profile. When applying Daramic's 2017 emissions profile to this model, EPA found the health risk to be nearly fifty percent greater than typical acceptability criteria for cancer and nearly ten times greater than typical acceptability criteria for noncancer health effects. Under the ACO, Daramic agreed to install a higher capacity emission control device, several building upgrades to improve capture efficiency and prevent fugitive emissions loss, and substantially taller emission stacks to minimize health risk to the nearby community. Daramic has also agreed to take on a facility-wide TCE loss limit of 130.01 tons per year, a 64% reduction from the facility's 2017 emissions of 358 tons per year. The combination of actions required by the ACO will reduce the health risk caused by TCE from Daramic?s facility to be below the typical acceptability criteria for both cancer and noncancer health effects.

Defendants (1)

• DARAMICNamed in complaintNamed in settlement

Facilities (2)

• DARAMIC, LLC

  3430 CLINE RD NW, CORYDON, IN, 47112-6908

  Registry ID: 110000401887

• DARAMIC, LLC

  3430 CLINE RD NW, CORYDON, IN, 47112-6908

  Registry ID: 110000401887

Statutes cited

• CAA 502 — Operating Permits (Title V)

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• DARAMIC - APO/CAFOentered 2019-02-27

  Primary law: CAA

  Federal penalty: $90,000

Timeline (5 milestones)

• 2019-02-27Final Order Issued
• 2019-02-27Complaint Filed/Proposed Order
• 2019-03-05Enforcement Action Data Entered
• 2019-03-20Enforcement Action Closed
• 2019-03-20Air Resolved