The Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com Wednesday, July 26, 2000 By Bill Dawson, Houston Chronicle Environment Writer One refinery in Texas City and two in Corpus Christi will reduce air pollution under a record enforcement agreement announced Tuesday by federal officials. The Texas City BP plant, formerly BP Amoco, and two Koch Petroleum Group plants in Corpus Christi are among 12 refineries in 10 states affected by the agreement. The companies will invest close to $600 million at the facilities -- BP more than $500 million and Koch about $80 million -- to eliminate 60,000 tons of air pollution a year, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice announced. In addition, BP will pay a $10 million fine and Koch a $4.5 million fine. Altogether, the expenditures and fines amount to the largest enforcement agreements related to air pollution that have ever been reached with petroleum refiners, officials said. The agreements grew out of an investigation of the entire refining industry. Officials hope they lead to other companies making similar commitments to reduce their emissions, EPA Administrator Carol Browner said. In a telephone press conference, Browner praised BP and Koch for their cooperation in bringing the cases to a speedy conclusion. No lawsuits were filed against the two companies, which voluntarily initiated negotiations with federal officials in January after being told about potential problems at their refineries, she said. Officials said the companies are being granted "a clean slate for certain past violations." Browner declined to provide details about those violations. She said the agreements cover four basic areas: installing the best available pollution controls at new or significantly modified refinery units; accidental leaks of pollutants; operations of safety flares; and emissions of toxic chemicals such as benzene. Without listing emission figures by plant, officials said the 12 refineries will use new technologies to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide by 49,000 tons a year by 2004 and another 6,000 tons by 2008. Chemical gases, which combine with nitrogen oxide to form ozone smog, will be reduced by 3,600 tons a year, officials said. Benzene, a cancer-causing agent, will be reduced by 400 tons. Besides the Texas plants, the agreements cover a Koch refinery in Rosemont, Minn., and BP refineries at Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Belle Chase, La., Bellingham, Wash., Mandan, N.D., Toledo, Ohio, Whiting, Ind., and Yorktown, Va. The 12 facilities account for 15 percent of U.S. oil-refining capacity, Browner said. Three other oil companies, representing another 20 percent, are involved in similar discussions with federal officials, she said. She would not divulge their names. Federal officials' praise for Koch's cooperativeness on Tuesday was far different from Browner's disapproving characterization of the company's behavior in another environmental case this year. In January, Koch agreed to pay $30 million in fines and spend $5 million on environmental projects for spilling an estimated 3 million gallons of oil from pipelines in Texas and five other states. Browner said at the time that Koch negotiators had been stubbornly unwilling to accept responsibility for the environmental damage caused by the spills. Back to Texas state page
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