(Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday announced a penalty of $176,899 on Par Pacific Holdings for violations of the Clean Air Act at its 93,500 barrel-per-day oil refinery in Kapolei, Hawaii.
Apart from the fine, the refinery would “implement changes to improve safety and reduce the risk of accidental chemical releases” as part of a settlement reached with the company over Clean Air Act and Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act violations at the plant, the EPA said.
The company must certify that all the requisite measures have been completed by December 2023, it added.
During inspections in March 2016, the EPA found violations including process safety information errors, such as inaccurate piping and machine diagrams, unclear operating information and mechanical integrity failures.
“Other violations included failures to immediately notify the state emergency response commission and the local emergency planning committee of releases of sulfur dioxide above the reportable quantity, which occurred on several occasions in 2014 and 2015,” the agency said in a release.
(Reporting by Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)
