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The Arkansas Department of Energy & Environment – Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) and GPS Gin Company, Inc. (“GPS”) entered into a September 11th Consent Administrative Order (“CAO”) addressing an alleged violation of an air permit. See LIS No. 23-063.

The CAO provides that GPS owns and operates a cotton gin (“Facility”) in Portland, Arkansas.

The Facility is stated to operate pursuant to a General Air Permit for Minor Source Cotton Gins (“Permit”).

DEQ personnel are stated to have conducted a compliance inspection of the Facility on November 7, 2022. The inspection covered the reporting period of August 10, 2020, through September 30, 2022.

The Facility is stated to have failed to maintain the monthly and 12-month rolling totals of cotton bales processed from August 10, 2020, through September 30, 2022 (26 months). Such an alleged failure is stated to violate Specific Condition 13 of the Permit.

DEQ informed GPS in a letter dated November 22, 2022, of the alleged compliance issues. Further, DEQ sent GPS a formal enforcement letter for the compliance issues on January 10th.

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

The CAO requires that to determine compliance with Specific Conditions 9 and 13 of the air Permit, the Facility shall submit the monthly records and the 12-month rolling totals of cotton bales processed required by Special Condition 13 of the Permit. The records are required to be submitted for three consecutive months beginning with the month following the effective date of the CAO. The records are required to be submitted by the 15th day of the following month for which they pertain.

A civil penalty of $12,960 is assessed.

A copy of the CAO can be downloaded here.