Internet Board
Internet Board
| Author | Weed |
| Date | 00/04/22/23:45 |
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - TPI Petroleum Inc., which refines and markets petroleum products, has agreed to pay $13.9 million to settle federal complaints that the petroleum refinery and marketing company contaminated soil and groundwater near its refinery operations in Michigan last year, the Justice Department said on Friday.
TPI, formerly known as Total Petroleum Inc. before it was acquired by San Antonio, Texas-based Ultramar Diamond Shamrock (UDS.N) in September 1997, will pay $9 million to help clean up Pine River in St. Louis, Michigan, and Horse Creek in Gratiot, Michigan and $900,000 for a "brownfield" project, a lesser polluted area, in Alma, Michigan, the department said. Under the settlement filed in federal district court in Bay City, Michigan, and still subject to final approval, TPI will pay a civil penalty of $4 million, one of the largest penalties paid in the Midwest for environmental violations, the department said. The agreement resolves claims that TPI illegally polluted the air, water and land prior to the time the company closed its Alma, Michigan, refinery in October 1999. The complaint alleged that TPI violated numerous environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Safe Drinking Water Act by discharging volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide more than state and federal limitations. The complaint also said the company polluted Horse Creek and Pine River with toxic waste water, and failed to properly handle, store and dispose of hazardous waste and to properly monitor and report waste water from refinery operations that ran into a nearby well. VOCs and nitrogen oxides contribute to smog and lead to acid rain, irritate lungs, eyes and sinuses, and are known to harm vegetation. As part of the agreement, TPI will work with the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a cleanup plan after it conducts studies to determine the extent of the contamination. Four other subsidiaries of UDS -- Diamond Shamrock Refining Company, Diamond Shamrock Refining and Marketing Company, Sigmore Pipeline Company and TPI Pipeline Corporation -- were also named in the complaint for discharging excess VOCs from storage tanks in Michigan, Texas and Oklahoma. All five subsidiaries have agreed to place controls on the storage tanks that were the cause of the pollution. |