Date
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
The Air District announced that Shell Oil Products has agreed to pay $165,000 to settle air quality violations at its petroleum refinery in Martinez.
The settlement covers 16 notices of violation issued to the company for non-compliance with air quality regulations during its operations that occurred in October 2015 and in 2016. The violations that led to this settlement were corrected soon after they were discovered.
Four of the violations stemmed from an incident in December 2016 that was due to an operator error. The error was corrected within a few minutes but resulted in sulfur dioxide emission exceedances, three opacity exceedances, and a shelter-in-place.
Other violations included:
- An overdue vessel cargo tank check for emission leaks
- Broken tank seals on an organic liquid storage tank
- Opacity exceedances, and sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide exceedances
The Air District issues notices of violation when facilities violate a specific air quality regulation or rule. Violators are required to respond to the notice within ten days and submit a description of the actions they will take to correct the problem. These actions can include shutting down certain operations immediately or changing operations or equipment to come into compliance.
All settlement funds will be used to fund Air District activities such as the inspection and enforcement activities that led to this settlement.
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Last Updated: 3/13/2019