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The Arkansas Department of Energy & Environment - Division of Environmental Quality ("DEQ") and Flowers Baking Co. of Batesville, LLC ("Flowers") entered into a February 14th Consent Administrative Order ("CAO") addressing an alleged violation of an air permit. See LIS No. 24-024.

The CAO provides that Flowers owns and operates a commercial bakery ("Facility") in Batesville, Arkansas.

The Facility is stated to hold an air permit.

Flowers is stated to have, in correspondence dated August 21, 2023, self-reported to DEQ a change in production methods that would require a Title V permit. The company further provided that the VOC permitted limit of 95 tons per year was exceeded at SN-01 and SN-02 due to change in production methods. This is alleged to violate Specific Condition 1 of the air permit.

Flowers submitted a Title V permit application to DEQ on September 14, 2023. The Title V permit application was subsequently deemed administratively complete.

Flowers neither admits nor denies the factual and legal allegations contained in the CAO.

The CAO provides that until such time as DEQ issues a final permitting decision regarding the air permit application, Flowers is hereby authorized to operate in accordance with all conditions and emission limits contained within the administratively complete permit application submitted on September 14, 2023.

A civil penalty of $1,440 is assessed which could have been reduced by one-half if the CAO was signed and returned to DEQ prior to 4:00 p.m. on February 22nd.

A copy of the CAO can be downloaded here.