Nutrite Corp. - Executive Summary |
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Nutrite Corp. facility is situated on approximately 1.365 acres of land designated as Lot 4.2 on the Town tax map No. 43.17. A liquid fertilizer production and storage facility is located on the property, which is situated on the west side of Wilcox Street in the Town of Cohocton, New York. The only building located on the site is a portable office trailer that is mounted on a steel beam support skid. The facility employs 2 full-time personnel. The liquid fertilizer production and storage facility consists of the following: an office trailer; a reactor and associated equipment that converts ammonia, phosphoric acid, and water into an ammonium polyphosphate liquid fertilizer, known as 10-34-0; a group of 17 above ground steel liquid fertilizer storage tanks, that are located in a concrete containment structure; a transfer platform for loading liquid fertilizer product onto trucks and truck weighing scales; an above ground steel tank that is used to store anh ydrous ammonia on site; and two above ground steel tanks, one used to store water and the other used for intermittent product storage. Each of the 17 above ground storage tanks has a 30,000 gallon capacity. While ammonia used to produce fertilizer product is stored on site, phosphoric acid is shipped to the facility by rail car on an as-needed basis. A rail spur, operated and maintained by the Livonia Avon Lakeville Railroad (LAL) is located at the facility, rear and parallel to Wilcox Street. The office trailer consists of office area for the facility operator, controls associated with the fertilizer reactor, records storage, and product quality testing equipment. The reactor and associated equipment are located on a concrete slab on grade. The facility is bordered by the following: a residence, an American Legion Post, and the LAL rail track to the north, and farther north, the Cohocton River; Wilcox Street, a vehicle maintenance garage and sand and salt storage area, owned an d operated by the Town of Cohocton, and undeveloped wooded and brush-covered land to the east; Triagri Grain and Fertilizer, a dry fertilizer blending, storage, and distribution business that also handles and distributes pesticides and herbicides, to the south; and the LAL rail track, undeveloped wooded and brush-covered land, which makes up the flood plain of the Cohocton River, and the Cohocton River to the west. Property uses in the area are residential and commercial. Use of the Nutrite property since 1982 has been commercial (i.e., production, storage, and distribution of bulk liquid agricultural fertilizers). The land in the vicinity of the facility is relatively flat and slopes gradually downhill from the southeast to the northwest. The area surrounding the site is desginated as a significant sand and gravel aquifer by the New York Geological Survey. Based on regional topography and surface drainage, ground water appears to be moving generally in a northwesterly direction t oward the Cohocton River. The site is covered by the reactor, the storage tanks and concrete containment, asphalt staging roads, parking, and perimeter areas, and grassed areas. When the reactor is operated, drip pans are placed below hose connections to contain chemical leaks (e.g., phosphoric acid when transferred from rail cars). In addition, the concrete pad, on which the reactor and associated equipment is mounted, contains a concrete in ground collection sump, that collects and contains chemical or product leaks, spills, or equipment wash down runoff. Liquid collected in the sump is used as product make-up water. The pad and sump are intact, in good condition, and make no cracks in the concrete pad. The product tank concrete containment is intact and in good condition. The containment is sized to contain 125 percent of the volume of the largest storage tank, or approximately 45,000 gallons. A 45,000 gallon above ground steel tank that is used to store anhydrous ammonia is located on the south end of the property. The tank is intact and in good condition, and with no evidence of leaking ammonia. The tank's structural integrity was tested and approved in 1990 and again in 1995. A barbed wire topped, chainlink fence is installed around the facility's perimeter, including the ammonia tank, to provide facility security. The site has a written health and safety plan that contains management systems pertaining but not limited to emergency preparedness, process hazard analysis, standard operating procedures, hazard communication, permit to work, management of change and contractor management. The site is audited annually by corporate staff. Both site employees have all of the training and expertise necessary for ammonia handling. |