Deere & Co. has agreed to pay $1 million for violating air quality standards at its Cedar Falls facility, the Iowa Attorney General's Office says.
According to a news release, the Moline, Illinois-based heavy equipment company has agreed in a consent decree to annual third-party environmental audits for at least 3 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 2005-2016.
Deere spokesperson Ken Golden says problems arose from past errors in air permits issued in 2005 for the center'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.