CHICAGO, IL — The Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 has settled two cases with Chicago area facilities involving ammonia and benzene leaks.

Stock Yards Packing Co., headquartered here, has agreed to pay a $11,855 civil penalty. EPA said the company failed to submit the Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory forms for anhydrous ammonia to the Illinois Emer-gency Response Commission (IERC) and the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) from 1996 to 1998.

Federal laws require reporting of on-site anhydrous ammonia above 500 lb by March 1 every year.

In another matter, UOP, LLC, Des Plaines, IL, has agreed to pay a $6,188 civil penalty and complete an environmental project costing $84,060.

EPA said that on Oct. 29, 1998, the company’s research-development-manufacturing facility in McCook, IL, experienced an airborne chemical release of 1,142 lb, of which 36 lb was benzene from a storage tank.

Federal laws require prompt reporting of all benzene releases above 10 lb to the IERC and LEPC. According to reports, the company waited until the next day before informing authorities of the release. The facility also did not submit written follow-up reports until more than a month after the incident.

Under terms of the settlement, the company has agreed to build a secondary containment system around some of its temporary chemical storage locations.

Publication date: 12/04/2000