American Crystal Sugar agrees to $50K penalty

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says American Crystal Sugar Co. has paid a $50,000 civil penalty to settle alleged violations at its East Grand Forks plant.

The agency says some of the alleged violations happened when a rainstorm in May 2009 caused runoff from American Crystal land application sites to enter Grand Marais Creek. That led to complaints about odors and discoloration in the creek.

When American Crystal was notified of the complaints, the MPCA says the company failed to take necessary action to minimize pollution to the creek.

The agency also alleged that American Crystal failed to report all monitoring results. The company agreed to take corrective action and already has completed many of the required actions.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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