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CENCO REFINERY WILL UPGRADE AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS

Release Date: 1/18/2001
Contact Information: Randy Wittorp, U.S. EPA, (415)744-1589

     Operators Will Install Cleaner Equipment Before Opening

     SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice today signed an agreement with CENCO Refining Company of Santa Fe Springs, California, which will require the petroleum refining facility to install advanced air pollution controls after being closed for five years.

     The enforceable agreement will be lodged in federal district court in Los Angeles, settling a notice of violation that was issued to the CENCO Refinery on May 17, 2000.

     "We are extremely pleased with today's agreement.  CENCO will be required to make significant emission reductions and the facility will serve as a testing ground for new, cutting edge pollution control technology that will benefit this refinery and others throughout the country," said Deborah Jordan, acting deputy director of EPA Region 9's Air Division.

     The EPA is requiring CENCO to install cutting edge air pollution controls, reducing emissions up to 85 percent.  In addition, the fluid catalytic cracking unit, one of the largest sources of nitrogen oxides at the refinery, will be controlled to levels that will make it one of the two cleanest in the country.   Nitrogen oxides are one of the primary components leading to ground-level ozone production.

     The CENCO Refinery, formerly Powerine, stopped operating in 1995 and was purchased by CENCO in 1998.  After learning that CENCO was planning to reopen the refinery, the EPA concluded that the facility should undergo New Source Review.  Established under the Clean Air Act, New Source Review requires all new sources of air pollution emitting over ten tons per year to obtain permits and use state of the art air pollution controls.

     The EPA issued a Notice of Violation last summer and has now reached an agreement for CENCO to install controls at the refinery to protect public health and the environment.