Merck, as former owner of the Kelco kelp processing plant in San Diego, California, agreed to pay more than $1.8 million in penalties to settle an air pollution case with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice. The government alleged the facility exceeded air pollution limits for smog-causing volatile organic compound (VOC) air emissions for several years and that Merck, which owned the facility until February 1995, made modifications to the facility without obtaining the necessary permits and failed to install the best available emission controls.