By Denny Jacob
The Department of Justice said Wednesday that Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. has agreed to make upgrades and perform compliance measures estimated to cost $118 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Clean Air Act and state air pollution control laws at three petrochemical manufacturing facilities.
Chevron Phillips will also pay a $3.4 million civil penalty. The DOJ said the settlement will eliminate thousands of tons of air pollution from flares.
According to the complaint filed with a consent decree, the company failed to properly operate and monitor its industrial flares, a source of greenhouse gas emissions, which resulted in excess emissions at three Texas plants.
The agreement is designed to improve Chevron Phillips’s flaring practices by requiring the company to minimize the amount of waste gas that is sent to the flares, which reduces the amount of flaring, and improve the combustion efficiency of its flares when flaring is necessary.
“We are committed to reducing harmful air pollution from unnecessary and improper flaring, especially near overburdened communities with environmental justice concerns,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in prepared remarks.
Write to Denny Jacob at [email protected]
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