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Calumet Shreveport, LLC Fined for Violating the Clean Air Act

Release Date: 04/07/2009
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Anthony Suttice at 214-665-2200 or [email protected]

(Dallas, Texas – April 7, 2009) Calumet Shreveport, LLC has agreed to pay $230,000 to resolve Clean Air Act violations at its Midway Street Lubricants facility located in Shreveport, Louisiana, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

On October 30, 2008, an accidental release and fire occurred at the facility’s sour water tank while vacuum trucks were removing residual oil from an open man way. The fire produced thick black smoke for two hours. Because of the fire, a federal inspection was conducted November 18-21, 2008, during which EPA identified the violations referenced in today’s settlement. EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) worked together in partnership in responding to the incident and in developing the enforcement response to this incident.

“EPA will continue to vigorously enforce our nation’s environmental laws through a strong enforcement program,” said John Blevins, EPA Region 6 Compliance Assurance and Enforcement Division Director. “When companies fail to follow the rules, immediate action will be taken to ensure compliance with the law.”

The law requires owners and operators of facilities that produce, process, handle or store hazardous substances to prevent accidental releases. The settlement addresses the company’s noncompliance by failing to prevent the release and fire, and failure to follow its policy requiring sources of ignition to be removed from the vicinity of a tank before emptying or venting. The inspection also found that the company failed to implement safe work practices and employees did not have vapor monitoring equipment and lacked proper personal protective equipment.

In addition to the fine, Calumet has agreed to comply with recommendations in the
November 24, 2004, and January 16, 2008, Audit Reports prepared for the company by Process Safety & Reliability Group, Inc. The company must certify by October 30, 2009, that the Audit Reports recommendations have been fully addressed and implemented.

More about activities in EPA Region 6: https://www.epa.gov/region6

EPA audio file is available at https://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/apr2009.html