Defendant violated the applicable National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) general duty requirement to operate and maintain the Facility, including associated air pollution control equipment and monitoring equipment, in a manner consistent with safety and good air pollution control practices for minimizing emissions, 40 C.F.R. 63.6(e)(1). The Defendant also violated 40 C.F.R. 60.11(d), a virtually identical general duty requirement in the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), which is included as a condition in the Facility title V operating permit. These general duty requirements apply to the owner/operator at all times, including periods of startup, shutdown and malfunction.
Specifically, the Defendant violated the general duty requirements to minimize emissions because, on seventy (70) occasions between October 2006 and August 2009, it operated its three refinery flares with excess amounts of steam (referred to as over-steaming). Over-steaming diluted and cooled the flames and prevented the flares from combusting large quantities of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). As a direct result of the Defendant's over-steaming, such HAPs and VOC were emitted into the atmosphere uncontrolled.