Sinclair Oil Agrees to Pollution Controls Worth $72 Million

The settlement resolves alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at the company's facilities in Casper and Sinclair, Wyoming and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday.

The states of Oklahoma and Wyoming have joined in the consent decree and will share portions of the civil penalty with the EPA.

The three refineries covered by the settlement have the capacity to produce nearly 160,000 barrels of oil per day.

The agreement requires new pollution controls to be installed that will reduce annual emissions of nitrogen oxides by approximately 1,100 tons per year and sulfur dioxide by almost 4,600 tons per year when fully implemented.

The new controls also will result in additional reductions of volatile organic compounds and particulate matter from each of the refineries.

Sinclair is known by its signature green dinosaur. (Photo courtesy Sinclair)

People with lung disease, children, older adults, and people who are active can be affected when smog levels are unhealthy.

These chemicals can also cause damage to ecosystems and reduce visibility.

In addition, Sinclair will spend $150,000 on supplemental environmental projects in Oklahoma, including $100,000 to install new controls to reduce emissions of particulate matter from the city of Tulsa’s fleet of municipal trash trucks.

The agreement with Sinclair is the latest in a series of settlements under an EPA initiative to reduce air pollution from refineries nationwide. The first of EPA’s comprehensive refinery settlements was reached in 2000.

Last year, similar settlements were reached with Valero Energy, Total Petrochemicals and Hunt Refining Company, requiring $300 million in new pollution controls at refineries located in Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, Alabama and Mississippi.

Including the Sinclair agreement, 95 refineries located in 28 states, representing over 86 percent of the nation’s refining capacity, are required to install new controls to significantly reduce emissions.

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