This settlement concerns the failure of Ergon-West Virginia, Inc. (Ergon) to meet the Clean Air Act requirements to: 1) sample batches of gasoline and diesel prior to the fuel leaving the refinery and (2 use a regulatory test method to measure the sulfur content of the fuel. Ergon-West Virginia, Inc. is a privately-held company that owns and operates a refinery in Newell, West Virginia. The Newell Refinery has a processing capacity of 23,500 barrels of crude oil per day, and it only uses a low sulfur crude in processes that produce very low sulfur gasoline and diesel fuel.
Non-compliance with the fuels regulations surrounding sampling and testing methods undermines programmatic safeguards intended to allow determination by regulated entities and the EPA of whether fuel meets applicable standards. Ensuring compliance with sampling and testing requirements maintains a level playing field by requiring all refiners to do their part to ensure that fuel meets regulatory standards aimed at reducing emissions. In this case, however, the EPA was able to work with Ergon-West Virginia, Inc. to verify compliance with the applicable sulfur content standards despite the identified violations.
As a part of this settlement, Ergon-West Virginia, Inc. will make adjustments to its gasoline sulfur credit balances for the Newell Refinery and paid a $235,000 civil penalty to the United States Treasury.