The Cenovus Lima Refinery will pay a $19 million civil penalty and make $150 million in investments as part of a settlement with the federal EPA over Clean Air Act violations.
File photo | The Lima News
LIMA — The Cenovus Lima Refinery, also known as the Lima Refining Company, has reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding violations of the Clean Air Act at the refinery, according to a Justice Department release issued Friday.
The settlement includes a $19 million civil penalty and additional capital investments estimated to cost $150 million. These investments, the Justice Department said, would include technology to reduce benzene emissions by approximately 4.34 tons per year, other hazardous air pollutants by 16.26 tons per year and other volatile organic compound emissions by 219 tons per year.
Benzene is a known carcinogen and short-term inhalation exposure can cause dizziness, fatigue and headaches as well as irritation to the eye, skin and respiratory tract, while long-term exposure can potentially cause blood disorders like anemia in occupational settings, the release said.
“Environmental justice is a core priority of our office and the department,” Northern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko said in a statement. “Through its illegal emissions of benzene, VOCs and other pollutants from its facility, the [Lima Refining Company] impermissibly violated the Clean Air Act and jeopardized the health of Ohio’s residents.”
In a statement issued from its media relations department, Cenovus acknowledged the settlement, noting that it is subject to final regulatory and judicial approvals. According to Cenovus, the concerns were first raised during a 2022 inspection at the facility.
“The company fully cooperated with the EPA to avoid litigation, even though we deny violating any regulatory requirements,” the statement read.
As part of the settlement, the refinery’s mitigation efforts will include installing one or more flash columns to reduce benzene in wastewater streams leading to the refinery’s wastewater treatment plant and will “cease operating, replace or upgrade other units at the refinery,” the release said. Six air pollutant monitoring stations will also be installed to monitor air quality outside the facility’s fence line, with the refinery to make those results publicly available.
In its statement, Cenovus said the refinery has had a “robust fence line monitoring system in place since 2018” to monitor the air quality around the refinery.
“The results have always been within safe limits for air emissions,” the statement read. “EPA’s own air monitoring in the community has shown the same results. The refinery is currently in compliance, and this settlement represents another in a long series of investments to continually improve the refinery and lower emissions.”
The EPA applauded the settlement, saying the investments will help ensure better health and water quality for the community.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates how fence line monitoring can help protect overburdened communities from harmful emissions from the oil and gas sector, including refineries,” EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Assistant Administrator David Uhlmann said in a statement.
More information on the settlement can be found at https://bit.ly/3zMIkml.
