Iowa Chemical Plant to Pay $80K for 2019 Spill that Hurt Worker

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A Waterloo, Iowa, chemical plant will pay a nearly $80,000 civil penalty to settle violations of federal Clean Air Act following a spill last year that hurt a worker there, federal officials said.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency said in a news release that Hydrite Chemical also took necessary steps to return its facility to compliance. In April 2019, a worker received burns from liquid sulfur that spilled as it was being unloaded from a tanker rail car. Firefighters who responded to the accident sulfur melts at about 240 degrees, and the element is liquefied when it is loaded into rail cars and then reheated for unloading.

The EPA inspected the plant following the injury and found a large store of anhydrous ammonia. The EPA reported that Hydrite failed to calculate and report the amount of anhydrous ammonia it stored and failed to develop and implement procedures for safely handling anhydrous ammonia, among other things.

Anhydrous ammonia is stored under pressure as a liquid, but becomes a lethal, suffocating gas when released from pressure. Even thin fumes can cause breathing difficulty and irritation to eyes, nose or throat.