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The Martinez Refining Company has agreed to pay $4.482 million to settle allegations of federal Clean Water Act violations at its refinery, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board said Thursday.
The refinery allegedly discharged millions of gallons of wastewater from oil refinery processes, which harmed water quality and threatened aquatic life in marshes linked to the Carquinez Strait.
The proposed settlement has been posted for public review at https://bit.ly/4frDx97.
The water board said, depending on the feedback received, the proposal will likely be submitted to the board’s executive officer for review and approval.
The refinery, which is owned by PBF Energy Inc., produces a broad range of petroleum products.
The water board found three cases of unauthorized discharges into nearby marshes.
On Oct. 27, 2022, the board said MRC discharged more than 72,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater to a marsh adjacent to the facility and hydraulically connected to the Carquinez Strait due to a blocked pipeline.
On Jan. 4, 2023, the board said MRC discharged 11.2 million gallons of partially treated refinery wastewater mixed with stormwater to a marsh when a major rainstorm overwhelmed the facility’s retention and waste management capacity.
On June 7, 2023, the board said MRC discharged more than 471,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater to a water retention area hydrologically connected to McNabney Marsh, due to a break in a process water pipe.
From Jan. 1 through March 5, 2023; from April 1 through April 30, 2023; and on May 14 and July 25, 2023, MRC allegedly discharged approximately 477 million gallons of refinery wastewater from a permitted discharge point above the limits specified in its Clean Water Act permit.
The water board said in a statement the discharges threatened human health, water quality and the aquatic environment. They allegedly contained multiple pollutants, including bacteria, metals, cyanide, oil and grease, and total suspended solids, and the quality of the discharges exceeded acceptable levels for pH, chemical oxygen demand and acute toxicity.
The board said MRC was also more than a year late in submitting a required technical report on climate change adaptation needed to assess the facility’s vulnerabilities to sea level rise, groundwater rise, changing climate, power outages and associated adaptation strategies.
“This significant settlement not only brings to a close an extensive investigation, it sends a strong message that businesses need to employ more safeguards to prevent unauthorized discharges and improve responses to increasingly severe weather,” Bill Johnson, enforcement division chief for the regional board, said in a statement. “This refinery, like all large-scale industrial operations, needs to anticipate how our climate is changing and better prepare for intense storms.”
The penalty the refinery agreed to pay is based on the State Water Resources Control Board’s enforcement policy, which incorporates several factors, including discharge size, impact on water quality, and the company’s culpability.
Half of the penalty ($2,241,000) will go to the State Water Board’s Cleanup and Abatement Account, which provides grants for pollution cleanup projects throughout California. The other half will go toward specific environmental projects to benefit the community and San Francisco Bay.
MRC said in a statement Thursday it addressed all violations referenced in the proposed agreement and remains committed to operating the Martinez refinery “in a safe, reliable, and environmentally responsible manner.”
“We worked cooperatively with the water board on a proposed agreement that includes significant funding for these local environmental initiatives,” MRC said.
More information about the regional board can be found on its website at https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sanfranciscobay.
— Story by Tony Hicks, Bay City News Service
Record-setting penalty for Valero in Benicia
The Valero Refining Co. has been fined the largest-ever penalty by Bay Area air quality regulators for a history of toxic chemical releases and other violations at its Benicia refinery dating back to 2003.
According to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board, Valero is on the hook for nearly $82 million in fines for violations discovered during a 2019 inspection.
The inspection found the company failed to report toxic emissions from the facility’s hydrogen system, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene — compounds that “cause cancer, reproductive harm and other toxic health effects,” according to the air district.
“Today’s historic penalty against Valero Refining Co. for its egregious emissions violations underscores the Air District’s unwavering commitment to holding polluters accountable and safeguarding the health of those living in refinery communities,” air district executive officer Philip Fine said in a news release Thursday.
Air district officials said refinery management knew about the hydrogen system problems since at least 2003 but failed to report or prevent them.
“The refinery emitted an estimated 8,400 tons of these organic compounds in total over this period in violation of Air District regulations — an average of more than 2.7 tons for each day on which a violation occurred, over 360 times the legal limit,” according to the air district.
Additional other problems were discovered during followup inspections, including the company’s “failure to install required emissions abatement equipment, failure to inspect equipment for leaks and failure to report required information, among other violations,” air district officials said.
Most of the money from the fine will be spent on projects to reduce exposure to air pollution, mitigate impacts and improve public health in the surrounding communities.
In addition to the fine, Valero is also required to “reconfigure the facility’s main hydrogen vent and vents in its hydrogen production plants to prevent emissions from being released directly into the atmosphere” and “to implement a training program to ensure that its staff are fully aware of all relevant Air District regulations,” according to the air district.
In a statement posted on its website, Valero officials said they’ve been working with regulators to reach an agreement on its operation.
“Valero is committed to environmental compliance and has worked closely with the District to make progress in reducing emissions containing trace levels of organic compounds from the hydrogen vent well before this settlement was reached,” company officials said.
“In 2022, the District’s own Health Risk Assessments (HRA) modeling indicated that the possibility of exposure to these emissions at levels that could potentially cause short-term effects could have occurred only two hours out of 43,710 hours, or 0.005% of the time,” according to Valero. “The HRA also found the risk of developing adverse health conditions from long-term exposures to be negligible, below the recognized risk threshold.”
In response, air district officials said the company’s statement is focused on the potential short-term toxic health impacts rather than the long-term impacts that put the public at greater risk for a whole host of problems, including cognitive impairment, cancer and damage to the liver, kidneys and immune system.
“The statement does not acknowledge the harm to public health from the additional smog and particulate matter generated by Valero’s more than 8,400 tons of illegal emissions over the course of these violations,” air district officials said.
Earlier in the month, Valero agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by environmental group Baykeeper for $2.38 million after the group uncovered evidence that the company was spilling oil refinery waste into the Bay.
— Story by Kiley Russell, Bay City News Service
