Gulf Oil Limited Partnership Clean Air Act Settlement
(Washington, D.C. – September 11, 2020) - Gulf Oil Limited Partnership (Gulf) has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $2,400,000 and retire approximately 453 million ppm-gallons of sulfur credits to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) stemming from its production of gasoline that did not meet fuel standards and its failure to comply with certain reporting requirements.
Overview of Company
Gulf is a Massachusetts-based limited partnership, whose activities include the purchase, import, storage, blending, marketing, and distribution of petroleum products. During the time period at issue in this case, Gulf produced gasoline by blending components in terminal storage tanks located in Chelsea, MA, Carteret, NJ, Staten Island, NY, South Portland, ME, and New Haven, CT and imported gasoline into the United States. Gulf came under new ownership in December 2015.
Violations
This settlement resolves claims relating to Gulf’s failure to comply with certain fuel quality standards for gasoline it produced or imported at terminals located in Chelsea, MA, Carteret, NJ, Staten Island, NY, New Haven, CT, and South Portland, ME and its failure to comply with various reporting requirements at several of these facilities.
The EPA began conducting a compliance evaluation of Gulf in June 2016. In November 2016, without any knowledge of EPA’s independent compliance evaluation, Gulf’s new owner self-disclosed certain violations to EPA. The fuel quality violations at issue in this case—some of which were self-disclosed and some of which were discovered by EPA—involve Gulf’s failure to: (1) meet certain CAA reformulated gasoline (RFG) volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions performance reduction standards that apply to gasoline produced by adding blendstocks to previously certified gasoline, (2) comply with the Reid vapor pressure standards, and (3) comply with the annual average gasoline benzene credit retirement requirements. The reporting violations pertain to Gulf’s submittal of inaccurate or incomplete compliance reports and Gulf’s failure to cause its independent laboratory to submit periodic reports to EPA.
Environmental Benefits and Pollutant Reductions
Violations of the RFG VOC emissions performance reduction standards and the RVP standards resulted in additional emissions of VOCs. VOCs are a precursor to the formation of ground-level ozone. Ground-level ozone causes a wide variety of health and environmental impacts, including temporary breathing difficulty for people with asthma, respiratory illness, and aggravation of existing heart disease.
Violations of the annual average gasoline benzene credit retirement requirements may result in excess emissions of benzene and other hazardous air pollutants. Benzene is a known human carcinogen, and mobile sources are responsible for the majority of benzene emissions. Gulf offset the harm caused by these violations by purchasing and retiring the required number of benzene credits after the compliance deadline.
Civil Penalty
Gulf will pay a $2,400,000 civil penalty to the United States.
Contacts for Further Information
For Legal Questions:
Jeffrey A. Kodish, Fuels Team Leader
Air Enforcement Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1595 Wynkoop Street (8MSU)
Denver, CO 80202-1129
kodish.jeff@epa.gov
Ryan Bickmore, Attorney-Advisor
Air Enforcement Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1595 Wynkoop Street (8MSU)
Denver, CO 80202-1129
bickmore.ryan@epa.gov
For Technical Questions:
John Connell
Air Enforcement Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1595 Wynkoop Street (8MSU)
Denver, CO 80202-1129
connell.johnc@epa.gov