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Kansas Grain Company Indicted Over Noxious Chemical Cloud

Midwest Grain Products and Harcros Chemicals are said to have violated Clean Air Act and put public in danger

November 30, 2020

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Two companies were indicted Wednesday on federal charges after a mistake at a northeast Kansas distilling plant in 2016 released a noxious cloud of fumes that prosecutors say caused more than 140 people to seek medical treatment, reports the Star Tribune.

The three-count indictment alleges that Midwest Grain Products Inc., of Atchison, KS, and Harcros Chemicals Inc., of Kansas City, KS, violated the Clean Air Act and put the public in danger.

The indictment, which the U.S. attorney's office announced, alleges that the chlorine gas cloud formed after a driver for Harcros pulled a truck into Midwest Grain's facility in Atchison to deliver sulfuric acid, mistakenly connected the sulfuric acid line to the sodium hypochlorite line, causing toxic gas to form.

Read the full report here.

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