Houston-based Continental Carbon Co. has reached US$98 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency on Monday after the EPA sued over alleged Clean Air Act violations at the company’s Ponca City carbon black manufacturing plant, as well as plants in Texas and Alabama. As part of the settlement, Continental Carbon has agreed to implement a series of plant improvements designed to reduce air emissions at its carbon black manufacturing facilities in Ponca City, Phenix City, AL, and Sunray, TX. The company will install additional air quality control equipment in stages at each of these facilities during the next six years. The settlement also requires Continental to pay a civil penalty of US$650,000, which will be shared with Alabama and Oklahoma, co-plaintiffs in the case. Continental must also spend US$550,000 on environmental projects to help mitigate the harmful effects of air pollution on the environment and to benefit local communities, including at least US$25,000 on energy efficiency projects in the communities near each of the three facilities.