Kellogg owns a cereal producing facility in Battle Creek and a snack food producing facility (Keebler) in Grand Rapids, both in Michigan. Kellogg changed operations and/or added equipment at both facilities which resulted in an increase in actual and potential emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and failed to obtain the proper permits from Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality for the changes. EPA issued Notices of Violation alleging the permitting violations on 1/28/08, 3/26/08, and 8/12/09, and subsequently referred the enforcement case to the Department of Justice, Kellogg on 9/23/2008 and Keebler on 6/30/2010. The allegations against both facilities have been addressed and resolved with a Consent Decree. The Decree requires Kellogg to pay a penalty of $500,000 and to obtain permits from MDEQ for each facility that include lower emission limits for VOC. The new permit limits set lower allowable emission levels for VOC as follows:
Battle Creek facility: Bran Coating Line VOC limit from 34 tons per year (tpy) to 12 tpy; DX Line VOC limit from 44 tpy to 24 tpy, for a total reduction in allowable VOCs from the specified lines in Battle Creek of 44 tpy.
Grand Rapids facility: Line 4 VOC limit from 20 tpy to 5 tpy; Line 6 VOC limit from 19 tpy to 5 tpy; Line 7 VOC limit from 52 tpy to 25 tpy, for a total reduction in allowable VOCs from the specified lines in Grand Rapids of 56 tons per year.
Therefore the total reduction in allowable VOC from this settlement