Two green groups have filed a lawsuit in federal district court against Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP for repeatedly violating the Clean Air Act at its Cedar Bayou chemical plant in Baytown, Texas.
The suite filed by Sierra Club and Environment Texas alleges the company released more than a million of pounds of excess air pollutants since 2003, including toxic chemicals such as benzene and 1,3-butadiene.
The suit comes on the heels of the groups’ landmark settlement with Shell Oil Company in June targeting illegal air emissions arising from so-called “upset” events.
The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring Chevron Phillips to end its Clean Air Act violations. In addition, Chevron Phillips faces civil penalties of up to USD32,500 or more per day for each violation of the Clean Air Act.
The 1,200-acre Cedar Bayou facility is the largest of Chevron Phillips’s domestic manufacturing facilities, producing over six billion pounds of chemicals annually.
“Like many companies in Texas, Chevron Phillips has repeatedly violated its own permit limits by emitting a wide range of harmful pollutants into the air from the Cedar Bayou plant,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. “Because the state of Texas has failed to stop such violations at Cedar Bayou and elsewhere, citizen groups have had to step up and enforce the law themselves.”
The Clean Air Act contains a “citizen suit” provision that allows private citizens affected by violations of the law to bring an enforcement suit in federal court if state and federal regulators do not.
“The effects of pollutants released from the Cedar Bayou plant can be felt as far away as downtown Houston and beyond,” explained Dr. Neil Carman, a chemist and the Clean Air Programme Director for the Lone Star Chapter of Sierra Club.
Chevron Phillips’s permits contain both hourly and yearly limits on the amounts of pollutants it can emit into the atmosphere. The lawsuit alleges that equipment breakdowns, malfunctions, and other non-routine incidents at the Cedar Bayou complex have resulted in the release of more than a million pounds of pollutants into the surrounding air, frequently in violation of legal limits. A single such “upset” or “emission event” can result in the release of tens of thousands of pounds of air pollutants in a matter of hours or even minutes.
The groups’ analysis of Chevron Phillips’s own emission event reports submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality since 2003 reveals:
Over three-quarters of a million pounds of unauthorised emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs);
*Over 300,000 pounds of unauthorised emissions of carbon monoxide;
*Nearly ten tons each of unauthorised emissions of benzene and 1,3-butadiene;
*Ten separate violations of the state’s hourly limit on “highly reactive VOCs,” the chemicals most responsible for ground-level ozone formation;
*Nine instances in which flares were operating without a flame in violation of federal law, allowing the release of pollutants with no control whatsoever.
VOCs and carbon monoxide contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, which, according to EPA, can trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and congestion. Air quality in Harris County regularly violates standards for ground-level ozone set by EPA. Benzene and 1,3-butadiene are carcinogens.
The suite filed by Sierra Club and Environment Texas alleges the company released more than a million of pounds of excess air pollutants since 2003, including toxic chemicals such as benzene and 1,3-butadiene.
The suit comes on the heels of the groups’ landmark settlement with Shell Oil Company in June targeting illegal air emissions arising from so-called “upset” events.
The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring Chevron Phillips to end its Clean Air Act violations. In addition, Chevron Phillips faces civil penalties of up to USD32,500 or more per day for each violation of the Clean Air Act.
The 1,200-acre Cedar Bayou facility is the largest of Chevron Phillips’s domestic manufacturing facilities, producing over six billion pounds of chemicals annually.
“Like many companies in Texas, Chevron Phillips has repeatedly violated its own permit limits by emitting a wide range of harmful pollutants into the air from the Cedar Bayou plant,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. “Because the state of Texas has failed to stop such violations at Cedar Bayou and elsewhere, citizen groups have had to step up and enforce the law themselves.”
The Clean Air Act contains a “citizen suit” provision that allows private citizens affected by violations of the law to bring an enforcement suit in federal court if state and federal regulators do not.
“The effects of pollutants released from the Cedar Bayou plant can be felt as far away as downtown Houston and beyond,” explained Dr. Neil Carman, a chemist and the Clean Air Programme Director for the Lone Star Chapter of Sierra Club.
Chevron Phillips’s permits contain both hourly and yearly limits on the amounts of pollutants it can emit into the atmosphere. The lawsuit alleges that equipment breakdowns, malfunctions, and other non-routine incidents at the Cedar Bayou complex have resulted in the release of more than a million pounds of pollutants into the surrounding air, frequently in violation of legal limits. A single such “upset” or “emission event” can result in the release of tens of thousands of pounds of air pollutants in a matter of hours or even minutes.
The groups’ analysis of Chevron Phillips’s own emission event reports submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality since 2003 reveals:
Over three-quarters of a million pounds of unauthorised emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs);
*Over 300,000 pounds of unauthorised emissions of carbon monoxide;
*Nearly ten tons each of unauthorised emissions of benzene and 1,3-butadiene;
*Ten separate violations of the state’s hourly limit on “highly reactive VOCs,” the chemicals most responsible for ground-level ozone formation;
*Nine instances in which flares were operating without a flame in violation of federal law, allowing the release of pollutants with no control whatsoever.
VOCs and carbon monoxide contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, which, according to EPA, can trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and congestion. Air quality in Harris County regularly violates standards for ground-level ozone set by EPA. Benzene and 1,3-butadiene are carcinogens.
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