UpdateTexas fines ExxonMobil for plant pollution

12 August 2009 23:45  [Source: ICIS news]

(Adds updates throughout)

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) fined ExxonMobil $602,801 (€427,989) for numerous air violations at company facilities in Baytown, Texas, and Beaumont, Texas, between 2005 and 2007.

About half of the fines will be used for environmental projects in the greater Houston and Beaumont areas that will focus on increasing air monitoring and replacing heavy equipment and vehicles with alternative-fuelled equipment, the TCEQ said.

The state commission fined ExxonMobil $288,061 for violations at its Baytown refinery, $50,000 for the Baytown chemical plant and $158,140 for the Baytown olefins plant, ExxonMobil spokesman Jeff Neu said.

The ExxonMobil Baytown refinery has a capacity of 572,500 bbl/day, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Chemicals produced at the Baytown complex include benzene, butadiene, butyl rubber, ethylene, orthoxylene, paraxylene, polypropylene, propylene and toluene, according to data from ICIS plants and projects.

Meanwhile, the company’s Beaumont refinery was fined $106,600, Neu said. That refinery has a capacity of 344,500 bbl/day, according to the EIA.

The TCEQ also fined US refiner Valero $108,900 for air and water quality violations in Nueces County, Texas, between 12 March 2007 and 20 June 2008.

The ExxonMobil and Valero cases were among $1.49m in fines that the TCEQ announced on Wednesday against 86 companies, cities and other groups for violations of state environmental regulations.

($1 = €0.71)

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By: Ben DuBose
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