Keystone, ExxonMobil Beaumont, Mallet Recovery Plant, Goldsmith Gas Plant and Valero Port Arthur top list of 20 TX facilities responsible for 49,000 tons of accidental air pollution between 2009 and 2012.
April 23, 2013
HOUSTON, TX.// The Environmental Integrity Project and 9 community and public interest organizations sent a letter to the USEPA Inspector General requesting an investigation of the federal and Texas regulators’ response to repeated breakdowns at nineteen gas and petrochemical facilities in Texas, releasing thousands of tons of pollution over the past four years. The USEPA has made clear that these so-called “emission events” are not exempt from the Clean Air Act, which means that federal and state agencies can order these plants to install or improve emission controls to fix the problem. Violators are also liable for penalties, unless they can prove the upsets are infrequent, completely unavoidable, and could not have been prevented through better design or operation of pollution control equipment.
For the press release, click here.
For the letter to Inspector General Elkins, click here.
