The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a legal settlement with Losurdo Foods Inc. of Heuvelton, New York that will reduce the amount of pollutants the company discharges to the municipal water treatment plant. Losurdo has agreed to upgrade its cheese manufacturing equipment, resulting in a 16% reduction in the amount of nitrate compounds and a 50% reduction in the amount of wastewater it sends to the treatment plant each year. The Heuvelton water treatment plant discharges the water it treats into the Oswegatchie River.
Losurdo uses nitric acid to clean its process lines. When treated, nitric acid produces nitrate compounds. Both chemicals are toxic and can harm eyes, skin, the respiratory system and teeth, and can cause significant environmental damage to streams, lakes and rivers. The 16% reduction in the amount of nitrate compounds Losurdo will send to the municipal water treatment plant amounts to a reduction of 4,500 pounds. By reducing the amount of nitrates and wastewater Losurdo sends to the treatment plant, the company will be reducing the amount of nitrates that are discharged into the Oswegatchie River.
The agreement between Losurdo and the EPA was reached after the company failed to timely report the amount of nitric acid and nitrates it was discharging over a three-year period. Losurdo has also agreed to pay a penalty of $4,525.
Under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, facilities that manufacture, process, or use toxic chemicals over certain quantities are required to file annual reports estimating the amounts released to the environment, treated or recycled on-site, or transferred off-site for waste management. The EPA compiles this information into a national Toxics Release Inventory database and makes it available to the public. Losurdo Foods failed to timely submit its annual reports for nitric acid and nitric compounds to the EPA in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
