Petroleum refiner HollyFrontier Corp. will pay a $1.2 million civil penalty as part of a settlement announced last week by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA).
The consent decree resolves alleged Clean Air Act violations regarding fuel quality emissions standards and testing requirements at three HollyFrontier facilities. The company will also install new equipment on two tanks at its refinery in Salt Lake City, Utah, to reduce potentially toxic volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions by about 96 tons over the lifetime of the agreement.
HollyFrontier had previously disclosed to the EPA that three of its refineries — the Navajo Refinery in Artesia, N.M., the Woods Cross Refinery in Woods Cross, Utah, and the El Dorado Refinery in El Dorado, Kansas —produced approximately 42 million gallons of gasoline that exceeded the applicable Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) standards.
The gasoline was sold in Utah, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Idaho.
HollyFrontier reported to the EPA that these violations are estimated to have resulted in about 10 excess tons of VOC emissions.
“This agreement will benefit public health by requiring retrofits of storage tanks at HollyFrontier facilities that will reduce volatile organic compound emissions and use next-generation technology to verify these reductions,” commented Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This settlement shows that fuel refiners can and must meet the nation’s standards for controlling the emissions that cause ground level ozone and serious health problems for Americans.”
Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, added: “This settlement not only means cleaner air for communities in Salt Lake City, it helps ensure a level playing field for fuel refiners that follow the law.”
