Chemical company agrees to pay penalty - Houston Chronicle

A Pasadena chemical manufacturer has agreed to pay $1.5 million in penalties for violations of Texas and federal waste disposal laws, officials said Thursday.

The penalties stem from Air Product LLC's failure to properly store, transport and manage sulfuric acid at its Pasadena plant between 1990 and 2009, according to legal filings by the Texas Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The used acid is classified as a hazardous waste under state and federal law. Air Products maintains that the acid was "purposefully produced" and not a waste, according to legal documents filed in Houston federal court.

The company sent the spent acid to a nearby plant that was not a permitted storage or disposal facility for the waste. In 2007, the fluid breached a retaining wall and reached the Houston Ship Channel, officials said.

Under the settlement, Air Products is prohibited from sending spent acid to the plant, Agrifos Fertilizer Inc. It also must notify state and federal regulators if it ships the waste off site.

mailto:matthew.tresaugue@chron.com

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