WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that Equilon Enterprises LLC, doing business as Shell Oil Products US; Motiva Enterprises LLC; and Deer Park Refining LP have agreed to pay a $900,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at refining and distribution facilities and retail gas stations around the country.
The settlement resolves an EPA enforcement action against Equilon, Motiva and Deer Park Refining for CAA violations involving:
- Elevated levels of ethanol in gasoline.
- Violations of the gasoline volatility and sulfur standards.
- Violations of the diesel sulfur standards.
- Numerous recordkeeping, reporting, sampling and testing violations.
Specifically, the EPA alleged that:
- Shell sold mislabeled diesel fuel--fuel labeled ultra-low sulfur diesel that was actually low sulfur fuel--at two gas stations in northern Virginia. EPA inspectors discovered the violations at the gas stations, one of which came after receiving a complaint from a consumer. Low-sulfur diesel fuel contains up to 500 parts per million of sulfur; ultra-low-sulfur diesel may not exceed 15 parts per million of sulfur.
- Shell sold more than 4.2 million gallons of gasoline that exceeded a fuel standard for volatility, known as the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) level, which helps control ground-level ozone during summer months.
- Shell distributed about 700,000 gallons of gasoline from its Sewaren, N.J., terminal that contained elevated levels of ethanol. Excess ethanol in gasoline can harm emission control components on some vehicles and engines. The Reformulated Gasoline Survey Association, an organization that works to improve industry compliance with Clean Air Act fuel standards, identified the fuel with excess ethanol after surveying Shell gas stations in Irvington, N.J., and Staten Island, N.Y., and notified the EPA.
- Shell failed to follow various protocols for sampling, testing, reporting and recordkeeping requirements that help ensure compliance of its fuel with federal standards. Shell proactively reported some of these violations to the EPA.
"Fuel standards established under the Clean Air Act play a major role in controlling harmful air pollution from vehicles and engines," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance. "This settlement makes clear that if companies fail to produce fuels that comply with federal standards, they will be held accountable."
Shell Oil is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, and is a natural gas producer, natural gas marketer, gasoline marketer and petrochemical manufacturer. Shell Oil and Saudi Aramco subsidiaries each own 50% of Motiva Enterprises.
Motiva owns refineries in Convent and Norco, La., and Port Arthur, Texas, that have a combined refining capacity of more than one million barrels per day.
Equilon Enterprises, doing business as Shell Oil Products US, operates as a subsidiary of Shell Oil. It offers refining, marketing and transportation services for gasoline and other petroleum products. It also operates a network of gas stations in the United States. The company has three crude oil refineries and operates lubricant plants, pipelines and terminal systems in the United States.
Deer Park Refining is a 50-50 joint venture of Shell Oil and a subsidiary of Petroleos Mexicanos. It owns the Deer Park Refinery in Deer Park, Texas.
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