Per safetec and USEPA News Release 03/27/2012
Clean Air Act (CAA) and Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) Violations
The USEPA and the State of Kansas have reached an agreement with the National Cooperative Refinery Association (NCRA) to settle violations of federal environmental laws and the Kansas State Implementation Plan at its petroleum refinery and underground storage facility in McPherson County, Kansas. NCRA owns and operates an 85,000-barrel-per-day petroleum refinery on Iron Horse Road in the city of McPherson, KS, and an associated underground product storage facility in the nearby unincorporated community of Conway, KS.
The agreement includes a payment of $475,000 in penalties to the United States and $225,000 to the State of Kansas to settle the following violations:
- Failing to maintain and operate the refinery’s 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 (CAA violation).
- exceeding emission limits contained in a construction permit for the refinery’s Unicracker Unit heater and Hydrogen Unit heater (CAA violation).
- Failing to fully implement a Risk Management Program at the refinery and the underground product storage facility (CAA violation).
- 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 (EPCRA & CERCLA violation).
- Failing to submit accurate Tier II reports, which are supposed to include the identity and inventory of on-site chemicals, to emergency responders (EPCRA violation).
- Failing to submit an accurate and complete Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) form to EPA (EPCRA violation).
Lessons Learned
Risk Management Plans, Tier II reports, TRI reports and emergency response incidents, are all triggered by the use, storage and disposal of hazardous chemicals. Many of these violations may have been prevented if a system was in place to manage hazardous chemicals. For example, the failure to submit accurate and complete TRI and Tier II reports could have been avoided if this facility had a system used a service like Safetec’s chemical inventory service combined with its Chemical Management System to identify EPCRA Section 312 and 313 chemicals that are required to be reported each year. Safetec can help you avoid costly enforcement actions like this one. Please contact us today.
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