EPA, Miss. settle with Chevron USA

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Justice, and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) announced a national settlement with Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (Chevron) that requires safety improvements at all its domestic refineries. The settlement resolves claims that the company violated provisions of the Clean Air Act aimed at preventing accidental releases of hazardous chemicals that can have serious consequences for public health and the environment. As part of the proposed settlement, Chevron will spend approximately $150M to replace vulnerable pipes, institute operating parameters and alarms for safer operation, improve corrosion inspections and training, centralize safety authority within the corporation, conduct a pilot study of safety controls for fired heaters, and make other safety improvements at all its domestic refineries. Chevron also will pay a $2.95M civil penalty and will implement supplemental environmental projects worth at least $10M in the communities around refineries in Mississippi, California, Utah, and Hawaii. The overall value of this settlement exceeds $160M, which makes it the largest settlement in the history of the EPA’s enforcement of the Risk Management Plan Rule under Clean Air Act. During EPA’s investigation, Chevron experienced accidental releases of regulated chemicals at two of its other refineries, including a 2013 explosion and fire in Pascagoula, Miss., that caused the death of an employee Tonya Graddy, and a 2013 rupture in El Segundo, Calif. The Mississippi DEQ participated as co-plaintiff over Chevron’s Pascagoula refinery. This is the first case in which the U.S. and a state have jointly brought suit to enforce these provisions. (Source: EPA 10/24/18)