MARTINEZ — In another crackdown by air quality regulators on oil refineries that pollute Bay Area skies, Marathon Petroleum has agreed to pay a $2 million settlement for a slew of environmental violations, including a 2014 flaring event at its Golden Eagle Refinery.
The violations — 58 in all — were committed by former oil company Tesoro when it managed the Martinez refinery over a four-year period that began in 2014. Marathon acquired Tesoro in 2018 and last year announced it would idle the refinery and lay off more than 700 employees there.
During the 55-day flaring event in 2014, the refinery emitted enormous amounts of volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and methane emissions, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Roughly 30 of Tesoro’s other violations also stemmed from the release of pollutants and volatile organic compounds in volumes that exceeded limits set in the company’s various permits with the air quality district. In addition, the company was cited for allowing a vapor leak and neglecting to properly monitor its refinery equipment.
“Bay Area residents expect and deserve to breathe clean air,” Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the air district, said in a written statement about the settlement, which totals $2,227,000.
“This settlement illustrates the Air District’s commitment to enforcing air quality regulations and ensuring that refineries continue to follow all state, local and federal permit conditions to protect the health of our communities,” Broadbent added.
In an email, Marathon spokesman Jamal Kheiry said the company voluntarily addressed the refinery conditions that led to all those violations. He added that Marathon is “pleased” to reach a settlement with the air quality district.
It wasn’t the first time excessive emissions from the Golden Eagle Refinery, which is located between Martinez and Concord, resulted in hefty fines.
In August 2015, Tesoro agreed to pay a $4 million penalty for diverting highly reactive wastewater around pollution-control equipment before it drained into a sewer basin where propane and butane could easily evaporate into the air.
And in January 2018. Tesoro agreed to pay $915,700 in penalties for 51 air pollution violations over two years. Six of the violations for excessive pollution were linked to two power outages that could have been prevented, according to the air district. One outage was caused by a power substation electrical outage and the other by problems in installing a surge protector.
Other violations were for leaks, flares, excess emissions and inadequate maintenance of truck loading racks, the district reported.
The latest settlement comes just months after the district approved new rules that will make a refinery in Martinez owned by PBF Energy and a Chevron refinery in Richmond dramatically reduce the pollutants they emit.
The district required PBF and Chevron to acquire “wet gas scrubbers” to clean up hazardous particulate matter that is suspended in the air when crude oil is refined into fuels.
Refinery officials said then they’ve already taken steps to improve air quality and the multimillion-dollar costs associated with scrubbers would devastate their operations.
The scrubbers installation requirement was hailed by environmental groups and public health advocates who said it’ll save lives. According to the district’s data, 11 people in surrounding neighborhoods die prematurely each year from particulate matter emitted by the Chevron refinery and six from PBF Energy’s plant.
All but three of the violations in this latest settlement occurred before Tesoro was acquired by Marathon.
The idled Golden Eagle Refinery is now being converted to a facility that produces renewable fuels, which create a lower carbon footprint than petroleum diesel. Marathon is in the process of getting permits for that transition, and Kheiry said the company hopes it can begin its new production model next year.
