EPA Press Office:

EPA settlement with Hi-Noon Petroleum resolves gasoline spill to creek in Yellowstone NP

Contact: Richard Mylott (mylott.richard@epa.gov)

WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. (July 16, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with Hi-Noon Petroleum Inc. (Hi-Noon) resolving alleged Clean Water Act (CWA) violations involving a gasoline discharge into Grayling Creek in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming.  

EPA alleges that Hi-Noon violated the CWA with a discharge of 4,800 gallons of gasoline into Grayling Creek on August 19, 2022. The company has agreed to pay $20,000 and complete a $45,000 supplemental environmental project (SEP) to resolve the alleged violations. The SEP requires Hi-Noon to donate $45,000 worth of spill emergency response equipment and training to the Hebgen Basin Fire District in West Yellowstone, Montana, which responded to the spill. 

"EPA’s settlement with Hi-Noon underscores our commitment to holding polluters accountable, especially within our national parks,” said EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker.  “This response will help ensure that visitors continue to safely enjoy Yellowstone long into the future.”    

The discharge resulted from an accident involving a Hi-Noon gasoline tanker truck on U.S. Highway 191 within the boundaries of the national park. Gasoline flowed off the road and into adjacent wetlands and followed the wetland channel to Grayling Creek, a tributary to the Madison River. 

The spill was reported to the YNP dispatch, the National Response Center, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Hi-Noon’s contractor worked with an EPA on-scene coordinator on soil removal and product recovery activities. 

Federal oil spill prevention, control and countermeasure rules specify requirements for facilities that store oil to prevent discharges that can affect nearby water resources. Learn more about the CWA’s prohibition against discharges of oil into waters of the U.S. and associated regulations on the CWA compliance website.