Bayer CropScience has agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle federal allegations of violations by the previous owner of its Institute plant, Aventis CropScience.

Under the proposed settlement, Bayer will pay $112,500 in fines and donate more than $900,000 worth of equipment to first-responder organizations in the Kanawha Valley.

Aventis was accused by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in 2001 of shoddy record-keeping, exceeding discharge permit limits of numerous hazardous chemicals and failing to properly notify authorities of discharge excesses.

Bayer purchased the plant in 2002.

The settlement comes less than three weeks after an explosion and fire at the Institute plant killed one worker and injured another.