Talisman Energy to pay $62,000 penalty for violations at 52 natural gas facilities in Pa.

Press release:

Contact: Roy Seneca seneca.roy@epa.gov  215-814-5567

Talisman Energy to pay $62,000 penalty for violations at 52 natural gas facilities in Pa.

PHILADELPHIA (July 25, 2012) -- Talisman Energy USA Inc. will pay a $62,457 penalty to settle alleged violations of hazardous chemical reporting requirements at 52 hydraulic fracturing facilities throughout Pennsylvania that include natural gas well sites and compressor stations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today. Talisman discovered the violations and self-disclosed them to the EPA.

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) requires companies that store specified amounts of hazardous chemicals to submit material safety data and lists of chemicals on site with state and local emergency response agencies and the local fire departments. The safety data describes health risks associated with the chemicals and safe handling instructions. The lists of chemicals set forth the types and quantities of chemicals present on site.

Compliance with these requirements is important for the health and safety of facility occupants and first responders in the event of discharge or accidental exposure to hazardous chemicals. The required information also provides valuable information to emergency planners.

The settlement reflects Talisman’s good faith cooperation with EPA, and its compliance efforts in self-disclosing and swiftly correcting the violations. As part of the settlement, the company neither admitted nor denied the alleged violations.

In a consent agreement with EPA, the company has agreed to pay the $62,457 penalty for failing to file required chemical information for one or more of the past three years at each of the facilities included in the settlement.  

For more information on EPCRA and EPA’s toxic chemical reporting program, visit http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/epcra/index.htm .

Chemical Producer Faces Fine for Environmental Violations at Fairfield, Conn. Facility

News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
July 19, 2012

Contact:  David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

Chemical Producer Faces Fine for Environmental Violations at Fairfield, Conn. Facility

(Boston, Mass. – July 19, 2012) – A chemical producer faces an EPA fine of $93,900 for failing to report the use and storage of hazardous chemicals at its Fairfield, Conn. facility, in violation of the federal right-to-know law.

According to a recent EPA complaint, the company, 5N Plus, Inc., violated the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) by failing to report hazardous chemical inventory information, known as Tier II reports, to the fire department, and the local and state emergency responders. The company also failed to report the use and potential release of lead and selenium to the state and federal Toxic Release Inventory, a national database of toxic chemical use available to the public. 

During a June 2011 inspection of the facility, EPA determined that 5N Plus had failed to follow the reporting requirements by failing to include gallium trichloride (an extremely hazardous substance) in its inventory of hazardous chemicals for 2010, and by failing to submit Tier II reports for reporting years 2008 and 2009 for chlorine gas, lead and gallium trichloride.  Following further review, EPA also determined that the company had failed to submit accurate Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reports for lead in 2008 and 2009, and for selenium in 2010.

Accurate reporting of hazardous chemicals at facilities is critically important to ensure that emergency responders are aware of potential hazards that are present at a facility in the case of an emergency so that they can take adequate precautions to protect public health as well as their own well-being.  Further, the company’s failure to file these required forms deprives the community of its right to know about chemicals stored, used, and potentially released in the neighborhood.

After the two inspections, a release of chlorine gas at the facility resulted in area-wide evacuations and worker exposure to chlorine gas. Subsequent to the release, the company moved its gallium trichloride manufacture to another facility.

The proposed penalty includes $40,500 for failure to file Tier II forms for 2008, 2009 and 2010 and $53,400 for failure to file TRI forms for reporting years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

More information:

- Tier II Chemical Reporting (http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/epcra/tier2.htm)

- Toxic Release Inventory Reporting (http://www.epa.gov/tri/)

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Swiss Valley Farms Cooperative in Luana, Iowa, to Pay $33,880 Penalty for Community Right-to-Know Violations

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7

901 N. Fifth St., Kansas City, KS 66101

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

Swiss Valley Farms Cooperative in Luana, Iowa, to Pay $33,880 Penalty for Community Right-to-Know Violations

Contact Information: Ben Washburn, 913-551-7364, washburn.ben@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., May 29, 2012) - Swiss Valley Farms Cooperative, a cheese manufacturer, has agreed to pay a $33,880 civil penalty to the United States to settle two violations of environmental regulations related to the public reporting of toxic chemicals at its facility in Luana, Iowa.

In settlement of this matter, Swiss Valley Farms Cooperative will also complete a supplemental environmental project. Swiss Valley Farms Cooperative will purchase emergency response equipment for the Luana, Iowa, fire department valued at approximately $10,786.

According to an administrative consent agreement and final order filed by EPA Region 7 in Kansas City, Kan., in May 2011, the Agency requested information from Swiss Valley Farms Cooperative and found the company had failed to submit reports to EPA and the State of Iowa concerning quantities of certain toxic chemicals that were manufactured, processed or otherwise used at the facility during 2009. Those chemicals were nitric acid and nitrate compounds. Nitrate compounds are known to be harmful to human health and toxic vapors of nitric acid may cause severe injury, burns, or death. During calendar year 2009, the facility manufactured, processed, or otherwise used 187,000 pounds of nitric acid and 71,000 pounds of nitrate compounds.

Submission of the annual toxic chemical reports is a requirement of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Under EPCRA regulations, companies of certain size are required to submit annual reports to EPA and state authorities listing the amounts of regulated chemicals that their facilities release into the environment through routine activities or as a result of accidents. The reports provide an important source of information to emergency planners and responders, and residents of surrounding communities.

EPCRA was enacted by Congress in 1986 as an outgrowth of concern over the protection of the public from chemical emergencies and dangers. After the catastrophic accidental release of methyl isocyanate at Union Carbide’s Bhopal, India, facility in December 1984, and a later toxic release from a West Virginia chemical plant, it was evident that national public disclosure of toxic release inventory information was needed.

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National Cooperative Refinery Association to Pay $700,000 in Penalties for Violations at Kansas Refinery and Storage Facility

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7

901 N. Fifth St., Kansas City, KS 66101

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

National Cooperative Refinery Association to Pay $700,000 in Penalties for Violations at Kansas Refinery and Storage Facility

Contact Information: Chris Whitley, 913-551-7394, whitley.christopher@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., March 27, 2012) - The National Cooperative Refinery Association (NCRA) has agreed to pay $700,000 in penalties to the United States and the State of Kansas, and perform a series of injunctive relief actions, to settle violations of federal environmental laws and the Kansas State Implementation Plan at its petroleum refinery and underground storage facility in McPherson County, Kan.

As part of a consent decree lodged yesterday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., NCRA will pay $475,000 in penalties to the United States and $225,000 to the State of Kansas. As a part of the settlement, NCRA has agreed to spend approximately $745,000 on supplemental environmental projects involving the purchase of emergency response equipment and services for the benefit of citizens and emergency response agencies in McPherson County.

NCRA owns and operates an 85,000-barrel-per-day petroleum refinery on Iron Horse Road in the city of McPherson, Kan., and an associated underground product storage facility in the nearby unincorporated community of Conway, Kan.

According to a complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, NCRA:

• Violated the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) by failing to maintain and operate the refinery’s Unicracker Unit and associated air pollution control equipment in a manner consistent with good air pollution control practices, resulting in a 20-day flaring event that caused significant emissions of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide to the atmosphere.
• Violated the CAA and the Kansas State Implementation Plan by exceeding emission limits contained in a construction permit for the refinery’s Unicracker Unit heater and Hydrogen Unit heater.
• Violated the CAA by failing to fully implement a Risk Management Program at the refinery and the underground product storage facility.
• Violated the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) by failing to make timely reports of releases of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide during four separate flaring events at the refinery, including the previously mentioned 20-day flaring event.
• Violated the EPCRA by submitting incomplete Tier II reports, which are supposed to include the identity and inventory of on-site chemicals, to emergency responders.
• Violated the EPCRA by failing to submit an accurate and complete Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) form to EPA.

The consent decree requires NCRA to perform a series of injunctive relief actions to address its non-compliance issues and enhance future compliance through greater emphasis on the Risk Management Program. These include performing an applicability study at the refinery and underground storage facility, providing detailed tank inspection timelines and information, and documenting the resolution of process hazard analyses and compliance audit findings.

For the CAA violations, the relief involves training for start-up procedures and revision to applicable limits for the refinery’s Unicracker Unit Heater.

Relief associated with the EPCRA and CERCLA violations includes completion of a compliance review for Tier II, TRI and episodic release reports. It also includes the submission of an associated report to EPA, retroactive release reporting, and release report training.

NCRA’s supplemental environmental projects, totaling at least $745,000, are designed to further the goals of EPCRA and the Risk Management Program, which seek to prevent accidental chemical releases, minimize the consequences of accidents that do occur, and enable local emergency responders to plan and respond effectively to chemical accidents.

The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final approval by the court.

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Union Pacific to Pay $1.5 Million for Clean Water Act Violations

News release from EPA Region 8:


News release from EPA Region 8:

Union Pacific Railroad Company to pay $1.5 million for Clean Water Act violations in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming

Company cited for oil and coal spills, inadequate prevention and planning
Contact Information: Donna Inman (303) 312-6201; Matthew Allen, (303) 312-6085
(Denver, Colo—February 9th, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a settlement with Union Pacific Railroad Company regarding alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act.

This settlement resolves a Clean Water Act enforcement action against Union Pacific that involves continuing operations at 20 rail yards in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, as well as spills of oil and coal in 2003 and 2004 along railroad lines in all three states.

For the railyards, EPA alleges Union Pacific violated EPA’s Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) and Facility Response Plan (FRP) regulations. These regulations are the first line of defense for preventing oil spills and providing immediate containment measures when an oil spill does occur.

“Today we have secured a settlement that will help prevent spills, protect water quality, and improve the safety of Union Pacific’s operations in 20 communities across Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming,” said Jim Martin, EPA regional administrator. “Union Pacific has already begun putting necessary measures in place and we will ensure they continue to do so.”

As part of the settlement, Union Pacific will pay a civil penalty of $1.5 million of which approximately $1.4 million will be deposited into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a fund used by federal agencies to respond to oil spills. The remaining $100,000 will be deposited in the U.S. Treasury for the coal spills and stormwater violations. In addition, the settlement requires the company to develop a management and reporting system to ensure compliance with SPCC regulations, FRP regulations, and storm water requirements at 20 rail yards in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Union Pacific must take further actions to control stormwater runoff at the Burnham Rail Yard in Denver, which are anticipated to prevent the discharge of approximately 2,500 pounds of chemical oxygen demand, 50 pounds of nitrate, 11,000 pounds of total suspended solids, and 30 pounds of zinc annually to waters in the Denver area.

This settlement will benefit many communities in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, many of which are disadvantaged, by requiring Union Pacific to install secondary containment to safely store oil and prevent oil spills from leaving its properties. Further, it will require the company to designate an environmental vice-president responsible for complying with oil spill prevention and stormwater control requirements at the 20 railyards. The majority of the 20 locations cited in the settlement are in disadvantaged areas with significant low-income and/ or minority populations.

The complaint alleges the following violations:

• ·         Six oil spills in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming
• ·         Three coal spills in Colorado
• ·         Inadequate SPCC plans and/or inadequate SPCC plan implementation (e.g., inadequate secondary containment) at the following 20 rail yards:
  • o   Denver 36^th Street, Burnham, Denver North, East Portal Moffatt Tunnel, Grand Junction, Kremmling, Pueblo, and Rifle, all in Colorado
  • o   Helper, Ogden, Provo, Roper, Salt Lake City North, and Summit, all in Utah
    • §  Also for six rail yards in Utah, failure to provide certifications and reports for storm water pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs) as required by the Utah Multi-Sector General  Permit.
• o   Bill, Buford, Cheyenne, Green River, Laramie, and Rawlins, all in Wyoming
  • §  Also for the Rawlins, Wyoming rail yard, an inadequate FRP and a failed Government Initiated  Unannounced Exercise

For more information on the Clean Water Act, visit EPA's compliance web page: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/cwa/index.html

For more information on Environmental Justice within EPA Region 8 please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region8/ej/index.html

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