El Paso Midstream Group to resolve Clean Air Act violations in Utah

El Paso Midstream Group to resolve Clean Air Act violations in Utah
Natural gas producer to pay penalties, implements air monitoring program

Contacts: Alexis North, 303-312-7005; Matthew Allen, 303-312-6085

(Denver, Colo. – May 17, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a Clean Air Act settlement with El Paso Midstream Group, LLC (El Paso) resolving violations at the Blue Bell Gas Plant near Roosevelt in Duchesne County, Utah. The settlement requires the company to pay $20,000 in civil penalties and up to $235,000 toward funding and maintaining two regulatory air monitors in the Uintah Basin.

“This settlement will help to continue the much-needed air monitoring capacity on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation that will help inform the management of air quality in the region,” said Mike Gaydosh, EPA’s Enforcement Director in Denver. “The company has worked cooperatively with EPA to appropriately resolve these violations.”

EPA alleges that prior to 2009 El Paso failed to control hazardous air pollutant emissions from the Blue Bell plant and failed to implement a program for leak detection and repair, in violation of the Clean Air Act.

The settlement stems from a 2007 inspection and subsequent investigation of El Paso’s Blue Bell Gas Plant. The company has since worked cooperatively with EPA to bring the Blue Bell Gas Plant into compliance. In 2010 the Blue Bell Gas Plant was modified into a natural gas compressor station and is now known as the Blue Bell Compressor Station.

In addition to the monetary penalty, El Paso will continue to fund two ambient air monitoring stations on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation with the intention of reporting data to the EPA’s national database. This monitoring data will inform local officials and residents and contribute to the management and protection of air quality on the Reservation.

For more information on the Clean Air Act please visit: http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/index.html

Help EPA protect our nation's land, air and water by reporting violations: http://www.epa.gov/tips/