Sunoco to Pay $130,000 for 2009 Air Quality Violations

News Release

NORRISTOWN — Under an agreement with the Department of Environmental Protection, Sunoco Refining and Marketing will pay $130,000 in civil penalties for air quality violations that occurred over a period of nine months at its petroleum refinery located in Marcus Hook, Delaware County.

“Sunoco reported releases of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter in excess of permitted limits, from January to September 2009,” Department of Environmental Protection Southeast Regional Director Joseph A. Feola said. “This penalty is a direct result of those emission violations.”

Feola noted that the equipment failures that caused many of the 2009 violations were addressed by this penalty and each was corrected by Sunoco. The equipment failure included boiler malfunctions, compressor and instrument failures and a cooling system leak.

Boiler malfunctions in January and April resulted in a total of 21.8 tons of carbon monoxide and 0.28 tons of particulate matter being released into the air.

A compressor failure in March caused excess amounts of nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds to be released.

Additional emissions of these compounds and others, such as a butane, propane and propylene mixture, were the result of a cooling system leak, instrument failure and flare pilot light problems.

The facility was fined $173,310 in December 2009 for air quality violations noted in 2008.

For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us or call 484-250-5900.