Refinery To Pay $12 Million In Fines For The Willful Release Of Toxins Into Louisiana’s Air

After years of spewing out toxic chemicals into Louisiana’s air, threatening the health of its employees and surrounding local residents, Pelican Refining Co. is finally being made to pay for its crimes.

Pelican’s refinery at Lake Charles, La. Photo from the U.S. EPA.

Pelican Refining pleaded guilty to clean air violations and obstruction of justice charges in federal court, and is now being sentenced to pay $12 million in felony violations.

The violations relate to the company’s crude oil and asphalt refining facility located in Lake Charles, La. Pelican signed a court document called a “joint factual statement,” where the company agreed that all of the allegations were a “true and accurate statement” of their “criminal conduct.”

Among the most glaring and specific violations of the company is the handling a damaged floating roof on one of its tanks.

The Pelican refinery stored crude oil in tanks with floating roofs that go up and down with the volume of the petroleum inside the tank. Floating roofs have seals around the perimeter. The purpose of a sealed floating roof is to prevent pollutants, including volatile organic compounds and hydrogen sulfide from escaping.

In 2005 and 2006, the Pelican refinery processed sour crude that had high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide.

Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic and flammable gas inherent to sour crude. It is colorless, but has the smell of rotten eggs at low concentrations. At higher concentrations, it paralyzes the sense of smell, so that its odor is no longer perceived.

At very high concentrations, it paralyzes the respiratory center of the brain so that the exposed individual stops breathing, losses consciousness, and dies unless removed from exposure and resuscitated.

“Nearby residents complained to Pelican Refining Co. and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) about odors emanating from the Pelican Refinery,” according to court documentation.

Refinery workers also reported smelling hydrogen sulfide, as well as having their personal hydrogen sulfide monitors go off from time-to-time, although it’s not known whether there was any injury to any person.

“Pelican Refining Co. had no procedure to record, track, report, or mitigate hydrogen sulfide releases,” said the court documentation.

The seal broken on the floating roof was known by the company and ignored. In the joint factual statement, it stated that, “No one reported the roof failure to the LDEQ or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as required.”

On Dec. 13, 2005, LDEQ conducted an inspection of the facility and found that the roof had failed and that oil was pooled on top. LDEQ instructed that the oil must be removed from the tank.

Instead of the required timely removal, the oil was removed from the tank by processing. The removal was not accomplished within the 45 days as required, nor prior to the (next) inspection on March 1, 2006 by LDEQ and EPA, which found crude oil still remaining in the tank.

The document added that the prolonged storage of sour crude in the tank resulted in an “unlawful release of hydrogen sulfide” and other toxic chemicals into the environment.

 “This corporation operated without even the most basic requirements of an environmental plan and endangered the public and its own employees by implementing unsafe practices in violation of its permit and reporting requirements,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources division of the U.S. Department of Justice in a statement.

On the whole, the refinery operated without a company budget or an environmental budget. It didn’t have an environmental department, not did it have an environmental manager, regulatory specialist, or anyone with the task of complying with environmental regulations.

As a result, the company’s criminal fine is the largest ever in Louisiana for violations of the Clean Air Act.

“Pelican is also prohibited from future operations unless it implements an environmental compliance plan, which includes independent quarterly audits by an outside firm and oversight by a court appointed monitor,” said the U.S. Department of Justice.

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