EPA Settles Alleged Clean Air Act Violations with EnerSys Energy Products Inc. in Missouri
LENEXA, KAN. (JUNE 13, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached a settlement with Missouri lead-acid battery manufacturer EnerSys Energy Products Inc. to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act at the company’s Warrensburg and two Springfield facilities. The company is a subsidiary of EnerSys Inc., the world’s largest industrial battery manufacturer.
According to EPA, the company will pay a $430,500 civil penalty and spend an estimated $250,000 in compliance costs to resolve the alleged violations.
“In addition to allegedly violating the Clean Air Act, EnerSys Energy’s facilities are located in communities determined by EPA to be disproportionately affected by pollution,” said Jodi Bruno, acting director of EPA Region 7’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. “This settlement represents the commitment by EPA and the Biden administration to protecting all communities, especially those overburdened by environmental harm.”
In the settlement documents, EPA alleged that the company’s facilities emit lead, a hazardous air pollutant, as part of their manufacturing process. During 2022 and 2023 inspections at the Warrensburg and Springfield facilities, and after reviewing documents submitted to EPA by the company, EPA determined that the company failed to report to EPA when the facilities’ emission control equipment operated outside of the appropriate pressure range.
Further, the company failed to report what corrective actions the facilities took in response to these occurrences. EPA says that these reporting obligations exist to reduce the possibility of a severe failure of emission control equipment, which could result in excess lead emissions.
EPA identified the community surrounding one of EnerSys Energy’s Springfield facilities as a potentially sensitive area with respect to air toxics cancer risk and releases, Superfund and hazardous waste proximity, and wastewater discharges. The other two facilities were also identified as being close to pollution sources. EPA is strengthening enforcement in such communities to address adverse human health or environmental effects of industrial operations on vulnerable populations.
Learn more about EPA’s environmental justice and lead exposure reduction efforts, and its Air Enforcement program.
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