Nov 28, 2011

Ethanol company Corn Plus fined $760,000 for lying to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Burning ethanol in your car is supposed to be better for the environment, but when the company producing the biofuel falsifies air pollution monitoring data, things may not be as clean as they seem.  

corn plus logoThat's what happened to Corn Plus, an ethanol producer in Minnesota that plead guilty in federal court last week to the falsifying charge and was hit with a fine of $760,000 ($310,000 of which was a civil penalty from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, according to the Minneapolis StarTribune). The company was caught because, for three months in 2009, the exact same data was reported to the MPCA. Corn Plus said in a statement (available after the jump) that this was likely due to "the isolated acts of a few employees in 2009 and early 2010, and without the consent, knowledge, or endorsement of Corn Plus's senior management."

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