US activists sue Shell on pollution allegations
07 January 2008 23:04 [Source: ICIS news]
HOUSTON (ICIS news)-- The Sierra Club, a US environmental activist group, sued Shell on Monday, accusing the company's Deer Park complex in Texas of violating pollution regulations.
Shell said in a statement it was not ready to comment on the specific accusations made in the suit. However, Shell said it shares the activists' goals in improving air quality.
The Sierra Club and another plaintiff, the Environment Texas Citizen Lobby, filed the suit in federal court. The two groups accuse the complex of exceeding air-pollution emission limits by hundreds of thousands of pounds each year.
The pollutants include 1,3 butadiene, benzene, sulphur dioxide, various nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, the suit says.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the state of Texas and Harris County have failed to enforce regulations meant to curb pollution, according to the enviromental groups.
County, state and federal regulators were not immediately available for comment.
Shell said that the company has a record of reducing pollution through significant investments at the complex.
In 2006, Deer Park reduced reported benzene emissions by 14% from 2005, Shell said. Deer Park's olefins operations reported 67% fewer flaring incidents in 2007 when compared with 2005, Shell said.
Shell's Deer Park facility is an industrial complex that covers 1,500 acres on the Houston Ship Channel, about 20 miles (32 km) east of downtown Houston.
The refinery is the sixth largest in the US, with the capacity to produce 340,000 bbl/day, according to Shell.
The complex is the world's largest producer of phenol acetone, bisphenol acetone and epoxy resins, the suit says. The complex also produces ethylene, butadiene, toluene and other petrochemicals.By: Al Greenwood
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