May 24, 2002
Ashland Inc. to pay $10.7 million in Minnesota refinery fire case: Ashland Inc., of Covington, Ky., pleaded guilty on May 13 to negligent endangerment under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and to submitting a false certification to environmental regulators. The company will pay out a total of $10.7 million in fines, payments to injured parties, compensation to respondents to the resulting fire and for local pollution control improvements. The defendant also agreed to a deferred prosecution for a violation of the New Source Performance Standards provisions of the CAA.
The CAA violations led to an explosion and fire on May 16, 1997, at the refinery in St. Paul Park, Minn., which severely injured one man and hurt four other individuals. The injuries were the result of Ashland's failure to properly seal a manhole cover on a sewer used to transport flammable hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons leaked from the manhole cover, became airborne and reached an ignition source.
The initial fire was extinguished, but a second leak of hydrocarbons from the manhole cover ignited and injured members of a cleanup crew. The false certification violation occurred after the fire when Ashland told the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in July 1997 that its sewer system was in compliance with the CAA and Ashland failed to reveal that a manhole cover had been unsealed and that a fire had resulted.
Under the agreement, Ashland will pay $3.5 million to the severely injured man and pay medical coverage for him and his family. The four other injured workers will receive $10,000 each. In addition, Ashland will pay a $3.5 million criminal fine, sponsor a workshop at a national petroleum conference dealing with the Clean Air Act's New Source Performance Standards for petroleum wastewater systems, take out full-page notices in two major Twin Cities newspapers concerning this incident and its resolution, pay $50,000 to each fire department that responded to the incident and add $50,000 Ashland's own Emergency Response Team Budget.
Ashland will also perform $3.7 million in upgrades to the treatment system at the St. Paul Park Refinery to ensure that this type of situation does not reoccur. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI with the assistance of EPA's National Enforcement Investigations Center.
It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis and the U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section.
Former Illinois refinery environmental manager sentenced: Ronald Snook of Coal City, Ill., former Environmental Manager at Premcor's Blue Island Refinery near Chicago, was sentenced to serve 21 months imprisonment and pay a $1,000 fine on May 14.
Snook was previously convicted of conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act (CWA) and concealing information from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD).
Between 1993 and March 1997, Snook conspired with Premcor, Elva Carusiello, Premcor's former Environmental Engineer and Assistant Environmental Manager at Blue Island, and Environmental Monitoring and Technologies Inc. (EMT), of Morton Grove, Ill., a consultant to Premcor, to not report violations of the Blue Island Refinery's CWA discharge permit.
The permit limited the pH of the refinery's wastewater discharges and also limited the amount of fats, oils and grease that the refinery could release into sewers operated by the MWRD. The scheme involved failing to report tests that indicated the refinery was out of compliance with its discharge permit.
The discharge of wastewater with higher than permitted levels of pollutants and having a high or low pH value can harm sewage treatment equipment and can also harm fish and wildlife. In previous court actions in this case, Premcor paid a $2 million fine, EMT paid a $50,000 fine and Carusiello pleaded to a CWA violation.
The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of EPA's National Enforcement Investigations Center, and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago.
Washington state oil recycling company sentenced: Clean Care Corp. of Tacoma, Wash., was sentenced on May 10 to pay $107,937 in restitution to the Washington State Department of Ecology and serve five years corporate probation. Clean Care previously pleaded guilty to two felony violations of the Clean Water Act.
The charges arose when the Clean Care facility in Tacoma used a pipe to illegally discharge wastewater and waste oil into a storm drain that led to a drainage ditch that led to Commencement Bay, which is part of Puget Sound.
The release of waste oil into surface waters can harm a variety of fish, aquatic life and wildlife that use the waters for habitat and drinking. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the Washington State Environmental Crimes Task Force, with the assistance of EPA's National Enforcement Investigations operation. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Seattle.
Houston barge company pleads guilty to water law violation:Western Towing Co. of Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty on May 16 to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA). Western Towing formerly operated a barge cleaning operation in Houston.
Western Towing used river water to pressure-wash the cargo compartments of barges used to transport steel products, grain, gravel, sand, fertilizer and gypsum. The company had a CWA discharge permit which allowed it to discharge treated wastewater into the river, however the defendant did not treat the wastewater first. Discharging untreated barge cleaning wastewater into surface waters can harm fish and aquatic life and can make river waters unsuitable for recreational and drinking water usage.
When sentenced, Western Towing faces a fine of up to $500,000 and/or up to five years probation. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Houston Police Department's Environmental Investigations Unit, with the assistance of EPA's National Enforcement Investigations operation. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Houston.
