Continental Carbon faces alleged violations at Oklahoma carbon black plant

Ponca City, Oklahoma – Oklahoma environmental regulators have issued a 'notice of violation' to Continental Carbon Co., alleging 81 infringements of air permits, state regulations and a federal consent decree at its Ponca City carbon black plant.

The notice, dated 19 June, followed a “full compliance evaluation” by the Oklahoma department of environmental quality (DEQ) in April.

The probe, it said, identified alleged non-compliance involving emissions limits, equipment testing, recordkeeping, reporting and carbon black spill management.

Among the findings, DEQ alleged that the facility failed to report emissions from an emergency diesel generator and exceeded permitted emissions limits for particulate matter, SO2, NOx and carbon monoxide.

The notice also alleged that Continental Carbon failed to provide records of “comprehensive annual inspections” or to conduct “stack tests”.

The company, it stated, also failed to report excess emissions within required deadlines and did not maintain required operating and maintenance records.

Also cited were alleged failures to “properly maintain incident reports of leaks and spills of all carbon black,” as required under the facility's permits and the 2015 federal consent decree.

DEQ further identified alleged breaches of a 2015 consent decree between Continental Carbon, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including failures to demonstrate compliance with emissions limits, monitoring, particulate testing and reporting obligations.

The agency said it would work with the EPA to evaluate the alleged consent decree violations separately.

The DEQ notice instructed Continental Carbon to submit a compliance plan within 15 days detailing corrective actions, implementation milestones and measures to prevent future violations.

ERJ has contacted Continental Carbon for comment.