J.R. Simplot agreed to pay $1.5 million civil penalty, implement approximately $150 million in wastewater management improvements, and provide $200,000 for state environmental mitigation, resolving RCRA hazardous waste identification failures, Clean Air Act fluoride emission violations, and CERCLA/EPCRA hazardous substance reporting failures at its Pocatello phosphate plant.

J.R. Simplot Company Don Plant — Multi-Statute Violations at Pocatello Phosphate Facility (2023)

Outcome: J.R. Simplot Company agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty, implement approximately $150 million in wastewater management improvements, and provide $200,000 for environmental mitigation work administered by Idaho DEQ and the City of Pocatello, resolving violations across four federal environmental statutes at its Don Plant phosphate processing facility in Pocatello, Idaho.

J.R. Simplot Company, one of the largest private companies in the United States and a major food and agriculture company, operates its Don Plant in Pocatello, Idaho, as a phosphate fertilizer and related chemical manufacturing facility. The plant processes phosphate ore into phosphoric acid and fertilizers, generating industrial waste streams subject to federal environmental regulations across multiple programs.

The 2023 settlement addressed violations under RCRA (failure to properly identify and manage certain waste streams as hazardous wastes, including phosphogypsum and associated process wastewater), Clean Air Act (fluoride emissions from the facility exceeding applicable standards), CERCLA (failures related to reporting and notification requirements for hazardous substance releases), and EPCRA (failures in toxic chemical inventory reporting and release reporting).

The $150 million wastewater management improvement commitment — dwarfing the $1.5 million civil penalty by a factor of 100 — reflects the scale of remediation needed to address past hazardous waste mismanagement and bring the facility into compliance with RCRA requirements. The $200,000 environmental mitigation project funds community-level environmental improvements in Pocatello administered through Idaho DEQ, a common supplemental enforcement mechanism in Idaho Basin environmental cases.

The case builds on a 2020 settlement that resolved RCRA and EPCRA violations at Simplot's phosphate plant in Rock Springs, Wyoming — demonstrating a pattern of phosphate processing facilities facing multi-statute enforcement across different states.

Primary Source: J.R. Simplot Settlement Information Sheet | US EPA