Boise’s Simplot pays to settle federal environmental lawsuit over 200-foot waste pile
The giant Boise-based agribusiness J.R. Simplot Co. has agreed to pay $775,000 to resolve allegations it violated federal waste and community-protection laws at its phosphoric acid and fertilizer plant outside Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Simplot representatives signed a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice on July 9 in which they agreed to pay injunctive relief and civil penalties to resolve a lawsuit brought by the federal agency.
Simplot “illegally placed” hazardous material in a waste pile of calcium sulfate byproducts known as a phosphogypsum stack system, the government claims. At Simplot’s Rock Springs plant, that pile has grown to cover 420 acres and is about 200 feet high, according to the consent documents.
Simplot also failed to properly categorize the hazardous wastes in reports, the government claims. The company disputes both allegations and denied various other government claims, according to the agreement. But it will pay the penalties and relief nevertheless.
“For the purpose of avoiding litigation among the parties … Simplot agrees to the requirements of this consent decree,” the document reads.
Simplot will undertake four major actions, including conducting “compliance projects” and instituting waste-management protocols. The company also will plan for eventual closure and long-term monitoring of the Rock Springs plant. It will monitor groundwater for possible corrective action “to address any … contamination,” an announcement in the Federal Register reads.
If approved by a judge the agreement with Simplot and its subsidiary Simplot Phosphates LLC would take effect sometime after Aug. 15, the deadline for a 30-day public comment period.
“We’re pleased to have reached this proposed settlement and look forward to our continued partnerships in Rock Springs and [with] the customers and communities that our work supports,” the company said in a statement.
Simplot violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which governs hazardous wastes, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act, the DOJ alleges.
“While the company disagrees with the allegations, this proposed settlement helps ensure the future viability of our phosphate efforts and shows our commitment to long-term land reclamation and environmental stewardship,” the company’s statement reads.
The private company does about $6 billion a year worldwide in business, spokesman Josh Jordan told WyoFile. It employs about 13,000 people. It is a major employer in Rock Springs, population about 22,200, where its industrial fertilizer and ammonia plants and the phosphogypsum stack sprawl across part of the 2,720-acre Simplot property about five miles southeast of the city.
Simplot makes fertilizer by mixing sulfuric acid and phosphate rock. The plant’s manufacturing process produces hazardous wastes. One waste product is phosphogypsum, a waste Simplot stores in a pile outside the plant amid a series of settling ponds. The federal government banned certain applications of phosphogypsum use because it emits low-level radioactivity.
This story has been edited and shortened from the original version reported and published by WyoFile, a nonprofit Wyoming news outlet. Read the full original story.
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 11:58 AM.