California refinery fined; execs may face jail

15 June 2007 23:27  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--A California refinery is to pay a $1m (€750,000) criminal penalty for pollution and three of its executives face possible five-year jail terms for lying about it, the US Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday.

 

The agency said that Santa Maria Refining of Santa Maria, California, has pleaded guilty to violating the federal Safe Drinking Water Act by dumping benzene-contaminated wastewater into injection wells that were not permitted for wastewater disposal, posing a risk to drinking water reservoirs in the area.

 

In addition to the $1m criminal penalty, the refinery firm is to pay $15,500 in restitution to the agency and is on probation for three years.

 

Federal officials said that Robert Thompson, general manager at Santa Maria Refining, and Ed Stotler, the refinery’s operations manager, have admitted to making material false statements to agency investigators, a felony violation. 

 

Brent Stromberg, formerly vice president for production at Santa Maria’s parent firm, Greka Energy, also has pleaded guilty to one felony count of making false statements.

 

All three executives face possible prison terms of up to five years at a sentencing hearing on 4 October.

 

In addition, Santa Maria Refining and Greka have agreed to abide by an independently audited environmental compliance programme that will be in effect during the refinery’s three-year probation period.

 

($1 = €0.75)

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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