BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) — Four companies have pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a total of $3.5 million for criminal clean air violations at two Southeast Texas oil and chemical processing facilities.
Papers filed in federal court Wednesday in Beaumont show KTX Limited and KTX Properties Inc. pleaded guilty to negligently releasing hazardous air pollutants in a tank explosion at its Port Arthur plant in March 2011. The explosion killed one worker and injured two other severely.
The documents also show Crosby LP and Ramsey Properties LP admitted failure to monitor leaks of ground-level ozone-producing air pollutants at its Crosby plant from 2008 until 2012. They also admitted falsifying records and reports to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
A message left with the companies drew no response.