WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice announced that Marathon Petroleum Co. will pay a $326,500 civil penalty, spend $15.55 million on projects to reduce air pollution, and spend $319 million to install state-of-the-art Flare Gas Recovery Systems (FGRSs) at its refineries.
“When companies like Marathon install state-of-the-art pollution controls, they reduce air pollution in some of our most vulnerable communities,” Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said. “By updating this agreement, we are furthering our commitment to protect communities across the Southeast and the Midwest, especially places like Detroit that are overburdened by pollution."
The money spent by the Ohio-based Marathon will help reduce air pollution at refineries in Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan and Ohio. FGRSs, a major part of the deal, will capture and recycle gases.
“This agreement continues the significant pollution reductions achieved under our earlier consent decree with Marathon in 2012,” John C. Cruden, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said. “All five communities near these refineries will breathe cleaner air as a result of this agreement and Detroit will see a reduction in flaring at the refinery’s fence line.”