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Tesoro Refining and Marketing failed to limit nitrous oxides
emissions (NOx) from its fluid catalytic cracking unit, a
pollutant that contributes to smog, as part of a 2016 settlement
agreement, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
Marathon Petroleum acquired Tesoro in 2018, months after the
violations started, according to the EPA.
The company idled the 166,000 barrel per day Martinez refinery
in 2020 and began converting it into a renewable fuels facility
using feedstocks such as vegetable oils to produce fuels instead
of crude oil. The project began the first stage of startup
earlier this year.
The Justice Department requires Tesoro, owned by Marathon, to
adhere to strict pollution controls at the plant and forego
hundreds of annual tradable emission credits as part of a
California regulatory scheme.
It will prevent the company from using emission credits to
offset emissions from new projects or trade them to other
companies, limiting emissions in the San Francisco Bay area, the
Justice Department said.
Marathon agreed to surrender most of its existing NOx emission
trading credits and to forego almost all trading credits from
the shutdown of petroleum refining equipment.
The settlement includes new requirements that will apply when
the plant fully converts to producing biofuels as part a joint
venture with Finnish refiner Neste.
As a renewable fuels plant, the new agreement will result in
annual air emissions reductions of about 440 tons of NOx, 327
tons of sulfur dioxide, and the equivalent of 1,342,025 tons of
carbon dioxide, the Justice Department said.
NOx can cause ground-level ozone, acid rain, particulate matter,
global warming, water quality deterioration, and visual
impairment.
(Reporting by Laura Sanicola; editing by Grant McCool)
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