EPA settles with Marathon Petroleum

The EPA and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) have announced a settlement with Marathon Petroleum Corporation that resolves various alleged Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at 10 Marathon facilities and requires Marathon to take steps to reduce harmful air pollution emissions at facilities in three states. EPA and DOJ have alleged that Marathon failed to comply with certain CAA fuel quality emissions standards and recordkeeping, sampling and testing requirements. These violations may have resulted in excess emissions of air pollutants from motor vehicles, which can pose threats to public health and the environment. Marathon self reported many of these issues to the EPA.

Under a consent decree lodged in the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Marathon will spend of US$2. 8 million on pollution controls to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds on 14 fuel storage tanks at its distribution terminals in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Marathon will also pay a US$2.9 million civil penalty and retire 5.5 billion sulphur credits, which have a current market value of US$200 000. Sulphur credits are generated when a refiner produces gasoline that contains less sulphur than the federal sulphur standard. These credits can be sold to other refiners that may be unable to meet the standard.

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Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said, “fuel standards established under the CAA play a major role in controlling harmful air pollution from vehicles and engines. If unchecked, these pollutants can seriously impair the air we breathe, especially during summer months when they can reach higher levels. This settlement incorporates innovative pollution control solutions to reduce air pollution in overburdened communities.

“The changes required by this settlement will positively impact air quality in communities across the Midwest,” said Assistant Attorney General, John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resource Division. “All Americans deserve to enjoy the benefits of clean air, land and water. These benefits spring from our nation’s bedrock environmental laws and we will use them vigorously in the pursuit of environmental injustice.”

Steven M. Dettlebach, US Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio said, “this agreement will help reduce air pollution emissions in Ohio and elsewhere. We’re pleased this settlement will protect the air we breathe while promoting the use of next generation technology.”

Edited from press release by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/20052015/epa-marathon-settle/