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The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and Tokusen U.S.A., Inc. (“TI”) entered into a November 13th Consent Administrative Order (“CAO”) addressing alleged violations of an air permit. See LIS No. 17-099.

The CAO provides that TI owns and operates a steel tire cord manufacturing facility (“Facility”) in Faulkner County, Arkansas.

The Facility is stated to be covered by Air Permit 0992-AR-5 (“Permit”).

An ADEQ inspection allegedly determined that TI failed to record the date, time, and corrective actions taken when the scrubber flow rate dropped below the permitted minimum flow rate. The CAO further states that:

Records reviewed during the inspection indicated that Respondent had failed to record 162 Scrubber minimum flow rate excursions at SN-01A & SN-01B (Pickling Scrubbers), SN-05 (Brass Plating Scrubber), and SN-10(Brass Plating Scrubber) during the reporting period covered by the inspection (Table 1). Such failures violate Specific Condition 8 of the Permit and therefore violate Ark. Code Ann. § 8-4-217(a)(3) as referenced by Ark. Code Ann. § 8-4-304.

TI neither admits nor denies the CAO’s factual and legal allegations.

The CAO requires that TI submit the Specific Condition 8 required records of the date and time of the water flow rate excursions at SN-01A, SN-01B, SN-05, and SN-10 and what corrective actions were taken to correct the low flow rate within 30 days of the effective date of the document. The records are required to be submitted for a period of three months beginning with the month following the effective date the CAO.

A civil penalty of $6,000 is assessed. A copy of the CAO can be downloaded here.