The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Essential Oil Research Farm, LLC (“EORF”) entered into an August 11th Consent Agreement (“CA”) to address alleged Clean Water Act violations.
EORF is stated to be the owner and operator of the Young Living Highland Flats Distillery (“Facility”) located in Naples, Idaho.
The CA describes EORF activities as harvesting and chipping trees:
. . .such as Balsam Fir, Blue Spruce, Lodgepole Pine, Ponderosa Pine, and Western Red Cedar. The distillery at the Facility extracts oils from the woodchips through distillation, condensation and separation.
An unnamed stream is described as flowing through the Facility property in which EORF is alleged to have constructed a dam within its channel for purposes of impounding water for use in the distillation process. The Facility’s distillation process is stated to have several process lines for moving fluids, including coolant water, floral water, and reflux water.
EORF is alleged to have intermittently discharged coolant water, floral water, and reflux water into the stream approximately 61 different days during the period of January through April, 2014. It is further alleged to have intermittently discharged coolant water and reflux water into the stream on approximately 21 different days during the period of January through March, 2015.
The CA alleges that during the period January 2014 through March 2015 EORF did not have a Clean Water Act National Pollution Discharge Elimination System to discharge pollutants into waters of the United States. The discharges are therefore alleged to have violated Section 301(a) of the Clean Water Act.
EORF neither admits nor denies the CA’s factual allegations.
EORF agrees to pay a civil penalty of $162,800.
A copy of the CA can be downloaded here.
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