MARCH 9,
2015
NEW YORK, NY
A settlement announced today between the United States and Total
Petroleum Puerto Rico Corp. (Total Puerto Rico) resolves Resource Conservation
Recovery Act (RCRA) violations alleged at 31 gas stations in Puerto Rico and
four gas stations in the U.S. Virgin Islands that contain underground storage
tanks (USTs) owned by Total Puerto Rico. These USTs typically hold large
quantities of gasoline and can cause significant environmental damage if
allowed to leak. Total Puerto Rico has agreed to pay a $426,000 civil penalty,
implement compliance measures valued at approximately $1 million and undertake
a supplemental environmental project (SEP) consisting of a centralized
monitoring system estimated to cost approximately $600,000.
In the complaint filed
simultaneously with the lodging of the consent decree, the United States
alleged that Total Puerto Rico, as an owner of the USTs at the gas stations,
violated RCRA and the Puerto Rico Underground Storage Tank Control Regulations
(PRUSTR) by failing to report and investigate suspected leaks, monitor for
leaks; provide adequate protection against corrosion and overflows, adequately
secure dispensers and lines against tampering when facilities were temporarily
closed, adequately secure monitoring wells against tampering and maintain records
of release detection monitoring.
This settlement incorporates
provisions consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Next
Generation enforcement efforts, which focus on increasing compliance with
environmental regulations by combining the use of advanced technologies, such
as pollution detection systems and information technologies, with traditional
compliance measures. The centralized monitoring component of today’s agreement
is a Next Generation technology that will enable Total Puerto Rico to rapidly
identify and respond to actual or potential gas leaks at its gas stations with
actively operating USTs, each of which will be equipped with on-site electronic
release detection monitoring equipment that will be enhanced with the Next
Generation capability to transmit monitoring data to one central location on a
24/7/365 basis.
“This settlement will
require Total Puerto Rico to address the risk of gas leaks comprehensively by
installing advanced electronic release detection monitoring equipment in all
gas stations at which Total owns actively operating USTs,” said Assistant
Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Environment and Natural Resources
Division. “The settlement also obligates Total Puerto Rico to install
state-of-the art centralized monitoring technology, a Next Generation tool that
will enable the company to provide around-the-clock surveillance from a single
location for over one hundred gas stations.”
“Leaking underground
petroleum tanks are a serious problem because they can contaminate groundwater
with pollutants such as benzene, which is known to cause cancer,” said Regional
Administrator Judith Enck for EPA. “This agreement includes an innovative
centralized monitoring system, which will protect the environment by helping to
ensure that the underground tanks at many gas stations across Puerto Rico and
in the U.S. Virgin Islands will now be properly monitored and maintained.”
Total Puerto Rico will
install, or upgrade to, a fully automated electronic release detection
monitoring system at 137 facilities with Total-owned USTs in active operation
and will operate the systems for at least three years. This compliance measure,
valued at approximately $1 million, will connect lines with probing sensors
within the USTs to an on-site computer console unit that has audible and
visible alarms capable of alerting nearby gas station personnel of gas leaks
and other potentially dangerous events. The obligation to install automated
release detection monitoring systems will extend to any additional facilities
with actively operating USTs acquired by Total Puerto Rico after the date of
lodging of the consent decree. In addition, Total Puerto Rico’s voluntary
undertaking of a SEP – the implementation, operation and maintenance of a
centralized monitoring capability estimated to cost approximately $600,000 –
will connect at least 125 of the facilities with electronic release detection
monitoring systems to a central location. Total Puerto Rico will also provide
quarterly reports to EPA regarding its operation of these systems, and will be
required to provide information regarding their operation upon EPA’s request.
This is the second judicial
settlement in Puerto Rico requiring a defendant to implement company-wide
automated electronic release detection with a centralized monitoring
capability. A settlement in 2011 with Chevron Puerto Rico covered over 140 gas
stations for a period of five years. With today’s proposed settlement with
Total Puerto Rico, more than 250 gas stations throughout Puerto Rico will have
electronic release detection equipment and centralized monitoring.
The settlement is subject to
a 30-day public comment period and is conditioned upon approval by the United
States District Court before becoming final.