WASHINGTON Pelican Refining Company LLC,…
• Pelican had no company budget, no
environmental department and no environmental manager;
• In order to comply with a permit issued
under the Clean Air Act, the refinery was required to use certain
key pollution prevention equipment, but that equipment was either
not functioning, poorly maintained, improperly installed,
improperly placed into service and/or improperly calibrated;
• It was a routine practice for over a year to use an
emergency flare gun to re-light the flare tower at the refinery
which was designed to burn off toxic gasses and provide for the
safe combustion of potentially explosive chemicals; because the
pilot light was not functioning properly, employees would take
turns trying to shoot the flare gun to relight the explosive
gasses;
• Sour crude oil was stored in a tank that
was not properly placed into service and remained in the tank after
the roof sank;
• A caustic scrubber designed to remove
hydrogen sulfide from emissions was bypassed; and
• A continuous emission monitoring system
(CEMS) designed to measure the hydrogen sulfide levels in refinery
emissions was not working properly.
Byron Hamilton, the Pelican vice-president who
oversaw operations at the Lake Charles refinery since 2005 from an
office in Houston pleaded guilty on July 6, 2011, to negligently
placing persons in imminent danger of death and serious bodily
injury as a result of negligent releases at the refinery. Hamilton
faces up to one year in prison and a $200,000 fine for each of the
two Clean Air Act counts.
The government’s investigation of the
Pelican Refinery is continuing. Under the Crime Victims’
Rights Act, crime victims are afforded certain statutory rights,
including the opportunity to attend all public hearings and provide
input to the prosecution. Any person adversely impacted is
encouraged to learn more about the case and the Crime
Victims’ Rights Act or you may contact the Victim Witness
Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District
of Louisiana.
The criminal investigation is being conducted by
the EPA Criminal Investigation Division in Baton Rouge and the
Louisiana State Police, with assistance from the Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality. The case is being prosecuted
by U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley, Richard A. Udell, Senior Trial
Attorney of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and
Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Trial
Attorney Christopher Hale with the Environmental Crimes
Section.
More information on EPA’s criminal
enforcement program:http://www.epa.gov/compliance/criminal/index.html
Photos:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/criminal/investigations/pelican-exhibits.pdf
More information about the Victim Witness Protection Act: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdla/programs/victim-witness