DEERE PAYS $1M FOR AIR QUALITY VIOLATION

It has been reported that Deere & Co. has agreed to pay $1 million to Iowa for violating air quality standards at its Cedar Falls, USA facility.

Local news source, Des Moines Register, wrote that Deere has agreed in a consent decree to annual third-party environmental audits for at least three years. They will continue until Deere receives two consecutive audits reports with few or no violations.

The Iowa Natural Resources Department has said Deere didn't comply with emissions limits at its Performance Engineering Center, operated without proper air quality permits in some cases and provided inaccurate information on compliance reports to the department from 2005 to 2016.

The Des Moines Register reports that Deere spokesman Ken Golden said problems arose from past errors in air permits issued in 2005 for the centre's engine test cells. He says that Deere took corrective actions and worked with Iowa officials toward the issuance of new permits after learning of the problems in late 2016.