KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The U.S. Environmental Protective Agency will collect a penalty from Clinton, Missouri, automotive lubricant company Champion Brands for an environmental law violation.
Champion Brands will pay over $130,000 for alleged violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, after the EPA says the company failed report releases of toxic chemicals at the Clinton facility.
“Communities, particularly those that are already overburdened by pollution, have a right to know about toxic chemicals in their area,” Wendy Lubbe, acting director of EPA Region 7’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division, said in a release.
The EPA found that the company manufactured, processed and used amounts of toxic chemicals from 2016-2018 that require the company to submit an annual EPA report.
“Failure to report such data also prevents governments and industry from using this important information for research, and in the development of regulations, guidelines, and air quality standards,” the release said.
The EPA says it is conducting investigations in economically disadvantaged communities "to address disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of industrial operations on vulnerable populations."
