Area agriculture distributors to pay $55,000 EPA fine for Clean Air Act violations

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Southeast Missouri farm supply company ADI Agronomy will pay a $54,922 federal penalty for the failure to comply with risk management elements of the Clean Air Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced the settlement. EPA noted that ADI's facilities in Kennett, Mo., known as Ag Distributors, "failed to establish and implement maintenance procedures to ensure the ongoing integrity of its anhydrous ammonia process equipment, and failed to document that the equipment complied with recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices, among other violations." The facility is subject to heightened federal scrutiny because it houses at least 10,000 pounds of the corrosive chemical anhydrous ammonia.