2 Firms Fined $1M Each After Toxic Gas Release

Distilled spirits and food ingredients producer MGP Ingredients and specialty chemicals manufacturer and distributor Harcros each received a $1 million fine this week for breaching the Clean Air Act during a release of toxic chlorine in Atchison, KS in 2016, the US Attorney Stephen McAllister announced in a release. 

In a federal court hearing Wednesday, both companies pleaded guilty to “negligently violating” the Clean Air Act, a Class A misdemeanor, according to the official. MGP Ingredients and Harcros admitted in pleas that a chlorine gas cloud formed at MGP Ingredients’ Atchison facility on October 21, 2016 after 4,000 gal of sulfuric acid was accidentally combined with 5,800 gal of sodium hypochlorite. 

During the incident, a shelter-in-place order was issued by the Atchison County Department of Emergency Management and some members of the community were evacuated. McAllister said 140 people, including emergency personnel and plant workers, received medical attention. 

“The chemicals involved in this case posed serious public health and environmental dangers,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Cate Holston from the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in Kansas, said in a statement. “EPA and its law enforcement partners are committed to holding responsible parties accountable for actions that put an entire community at risk.”

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