NOTE: The overall value of this settlement exceeds $160 million, which makes it the largest settlement in the history of the EPA’s enforcement of the Risk Management Plan Rule under Clean Air Act Section 112(r). This is also the first case in which the United States and a state have jointly brought suit to enforce these provisions.
The U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) announced a national settlement with national refining business that requires safety improvements at all of its petroleum refineries across the United States, resolving claims that the company violated provisions of the Clean Air Act aimed at preventing accidental releases of hazardous chemicals that can have serious consequences for public health and the environment. As part of the proposed settlement, the business will spend approximately $150 million to replace vulnerable pipes, institute operating parameters and alarms for safer operation, improve corrosion inspections and training, centralize safety authority within the corporation, conduct a pilot study of safety controls for fired heaters, and make other safety improvements at all its domestic refineries.
The business also will pay a $2.95 million civil penalty and will implement supplemental environmental projects worth at least $10 million in the communities surrounding the refineries in California, Mississippi, Utah, and Hawaii.