Century Oil Acquisition Group didn't provide required corrosion protection for six steel underground tanks, according to a complaint filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, reports the Pocono Record.
The agency also cited Century Oil for not providing tank-release monitoring or line leak detection equipment at the two stations, which closed in the late 1990s.
Century Oil acquired the [image-nocss] businesses in 1991. The tanks were installed in 1973 but never upgraded after anti-corrosion and leak detection requirements were enacted, the newspaper reported.
"Steel is a very corrosive material," EPA spokeswoman Donna Heron, told the newspaper. "Here, where there is no detection equipment or monitoring, even a pin prick can cause substantial leakage over time."
One tank at each location contains residual amounts of gas, she said.
The EPA and state Department of Environmental Protection filed a complaint against Century Oil in 2006. In a September 2007 order, an EPA administrative law judge assessed a $193,538 penalty for the violations. Century Oil was ordered to permanently close the storage tanks and perform any necessary environmental cleanup.
Before the ruling was announced, Century Oil's legal counsel cited the company's "inability to pay" and said it wouldn't appear at the EPA hearing, the newspaper reported.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy ordered the company to pay a $1,303,131 fineincluding about $1.1 million in daily penalties for noncompliance with EPA's orderas well as interest on the original EPA fine.
The judge also ordered the company to clean up any tank contamination, and to either permanently close the tanks or bring them into compliance with underground tank regulations.
Heron is unsure what steps state and federal regulators will take if Century Oil continues to ignore the rulings.
"We took all the legal steps that were at our disposal," she said. "I do know it is still an active, viable corporation as far as we know. They have not filed for bankruptcy, but we don't know what their financial situation is."
State records list Century Oil's president as Michael Dattilo, with a business address in Spring Valley, N.Y., according to the report.
"We sell oil. We have some convenience stores," a receptionist who answered a phone inquiry told the newspaper.
She said she was unaware of Century Oil but would leave a message for Dattilo. That call wasn't returned as the newspaper went to press Wednesday afternoon.
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