Independence and the EPA

Independence Day and a good one it was. So 240 years and counting. Grannie Annie and I drove our 1925 Model T through the parade and enjoyed lunch and activities after. Culbertson knows how to celebrate the 4th.

Culbertson, at least a major manufacturing company located there, received some unwanted attention lately in the form of a $101,808 fine. So boasted a headline on front page of the June 24th edition of the McCook Gazette. The fine courtesy of Region 7 Division of EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) out of Lenexa, Kansas. Let me share an experience from my past and you be the judge.

Kugler Company is one of the major success stories of Southwestern Nebraska. Russ Kugler, sadly deceased too early in life, was an innovative kind of guy. He looked around at an evolution in agriculture where commercial fertilizer was coming to the forefront in greatly increasing crop yields per acre. There are several methods of applying fertilizer to nurture growing crops by scattering dry ingredients, injecting into the soil as in gaseous anhydrous ammonia (plants utilize the nitrogen that immediately ties up with moisture in the soil) and dribbling liquid into narrow furrows in the soil alongside the plants or injecting it into the stream of water flowing through an irrigation system. Russ more or less adopted the company slogan "That if we can't pump it we don't sell it" so liquid became their specialty.

The growing plants that make up our ag crops tend to do best when the acidity level of the soil is in an optimum range, we call it PH, and a chemical that can adjust PH, Sulphur, just happened to be in excess not far away in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The major petroleum refinery there extracted Sulphur from their crude oil as Sulphur burned in diesel engines is a no no for trucks on the US highways. Ah ha through some research Russ was led to find that burning Sulphur in an atmosphere of anhydrous ammonia will produce a liquid to be used as fertilizer to provide the needed nutrients of nitrogen and traces of Sulphur to adjust PH. The name ammoniated thiosulphate and just one of the specialized products produced at Kugler's large industrial plant.

Think jobs, think utilizing a byproduct of our dynamic petroleum industry, think producing huge amounts of needed farm fertilizer close to where it is needed for our Ag industry, the lifeblood of this area. What can go wrong?

Okay for over a decade your columnist served as chief pilot for Kugler Company. Note I no longer have financial ties to Kugler, just enduring ties of friendship to the good people who make that dynamic company go. Thank you U.S. Air Force for the training and experience to qualify me for that position. In addition to flying I also assumed duties related to job safety and environmental compliance for them. Federal Occupational Health and Safety, OSHA, rules were the guide and the company experienced few job related injuries. The EPA was a bit more benign in that time frame and we only had one experience of note with that agency.

Follow me. Several of us company officials, plus a hired lawyer, flew to Lenexa, a suburb of Kansas City, Kan., to the Region 7 Headquarters. Impressive four- or five-story modern building that covers an entire city block. Really impressive when we discovered the inside is roofed over but hollow and an impressive terrarium, palm trees and all, grows there year around. At the entrance we were processed through security such as one finds with TSA at the airport, magnetic detection and X-rays to check for weapons credentials examined and a visible pass to attach to our shirts. We were then led up to a large room where we met with an EPA officer of some rank. "You have been charged with the offense of etc and etc. What is your story?" Yes there was to be a hearing in front of an appointed federal judge but we company officers were not going to be present. We, and our lawyer, were to present the facts of our transgression to the EPA representative there that day and then she at a later date was to present our position to the judge in the EPA court. We had no choice in the matter as it was to be done the EPA way.

Later, yes we were not surprised to be fined, and all that money was to go to the EPA to be used in any way they pleased. Pretty good deal, make the rules, levy fines, collect all that money to fill your agency coffers.

Never mind that years ago Nebraska had a similar system with local law enforcement agencies but cured it by directing that all fines collected for speeding etc were to go to the schools. Kind of took the incentive out of writing lots of tickets to hassle the public and lining police pockets. The EPA however keeps all the proceeds so is there any wonder that they really like the business of levying fines where ever they can. Make the rules, change the rules and if the company out there trying to make an honest living doesn't keep up with your dictates, fine the heck out of them. Quite a deal!

Kugler Company already notifies the Culbertson Fire Department of all the hazardous materials on hand at the plant and together the two have developed and tweaked a plan of action over the years in case of some type of accident at the plant. The same is done in all the communities where the Company has manufacturing plants. I know because I did that very thing during all the years I was a part of the company.

Now just think what an injection of some $101k would do for the Culbertson Fire and Ambulance Departments if the fine went to those agencies. Possibly our local farmers would benefit if the retail price of fertilizer did not have to cover arbitrary fines to support the proclivities of our wonderful EPA. Vote wisely.

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail