Citgo Fined for 10 years of Stormwater Ignorance
Ξ July 23rd, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Fines, Industrial, Texas |
In late June, the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) announced that Citgo was being fined over $500,000. Apparently, Citgo had been skimming oil off of tanks that weren’t supposed to have any oil in them for the last 10 years. The punishment is still in the works, but it shows that industrial water permitting ignorance does not pay.
From the Press Release:
CITGO was convicted on two counts of operating two huge open top tanks, 116 and 117, without installing the proper emission controls required by state and federal regulations at its Corpus Christi East Plant Refinery….
More than 4.5 million gallons of oil were discovered in the tanks during an unannounced inspection by the TCEQ of the plant in March 2002….
CITGO and environmental manager Philip Vrazel were indicted by a federal grand jury in Corpus Christi on Aug. 9, 2006. The indictment charged them with a total of 10 counts of violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The charges were severed and Vrazel and the company will be tried in July for the MBTA counts….
Sentencing is scheduled for October 18, 2007, at which time, CITGO faces fines of up to $500,000 or twice the gross economic gain (whichever is greater) and five years of probation.
Citgo Gas in the Drinking water… fantastic.
-Stormwater Guru
Citgo Fines Industrial stormwater Texas Violation