Vermont Animal Feed Facility Settles EPA Toxic Chemical Right-to-Know Allegations | WPN World People News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) New England regional office has reached a settlement with a Vermont animal feed supplement supplier that failed to report information about toxic chemical compounds at its manufacturing facility.

Under the settlement filed on April 29, Nutra-Blend, L.L.C., of Neosho, Missouri, which does business under the name of Old Mill Troy at a facility in St. Albans, has agreed to pay $111,060 to settle EPA allegations that the company failed to comply with federal right-to-know laws in 2017 when it failed to file required reports describing five toxic chemical compounds used at the facility. The reports, Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) forms, are required under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.

"Failing to report information about these chemical compounds in a timely way deprived the surrounding community of its right to know about toxic chemicals that could have affected public health or the environment," said EPA New England Acting Regional Administrator Deborah Szaro.

This case stems from an EPA inspection of the facility in September 2018. Nutra-Blend submitted the five missing TRI reports for zinc, manganese, selenium, copper and cobalt compounds within a week after EPA's inspection and was cooperative during the inspection process and case settlement negotiations.

At the Old Mill Troy facility, Nutra-Blend manufactures animal feed supplements by blending dry vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Each year, the facility processes zinc, manganese, selenium, copper and cobalt compounds each in quantities of over 25,000 pounds, which is the threshold for reporting these toxic compounds on federal TRI forms. All of these chemical compounds are hazardous to aquatic life.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency