A Poll To Bookmark... Regarding The Keystone XL Pipeline...

[proverbialwisdom]

14. U.S. Fines Koch Industries Chemical Plant: Texas Facility to Spend More Than $45 Million on Upgrades

Not directly related to the XL pipeline issue, as far as I can tell, but the same location (Port Arthur, Texas) and polluters.

The Port Arthur plant manufactures ethylene and propylene, which are used to create plastics and other materials used in equipment such as medical devices and automotive parts.

http://sc.org/1nKsz2F

U.S. Fines Koch Industries Chemical Plant
Texas Facility to Spend More Than $45 Million on Upgrades

By TOM FOWLER
March 20, 2014 2:48 p.m. ET

The U.S. government fined a Texas chemical plant controlled by Koch Industries Inc. $350,000 for emissions violations and will require the company to spend more than $45 million on upgrades.

The refining and chemical complex in Port Arthur, Texas, violated Environmental Protection Agency regulations designed to limit emissions from leaking equipment and operated the plant's flaring equipment improperly, allowing excess amounts of benzene and other harmful substances to be released, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Under a settlement with the government, Koch unit Flint Hills Resources will earmark $28 million for new leak-detection equipment and $16 million for a system to recover and recycle waste gases before they are flared into the atmosphere. The company also will spend $2 million to retrofit diesel vehicles operated by the city of Port Arthur with equipment to improve emissions and another $350,000 to help improve energy efficiency in local low-income homes.

"This settlement will mean cleaner, healthier air for residents of the Port Arthur area who continue to bear a disproportionate burden from the impacts of industrial pollution," said Robert G. Dreher, an acting assistant attorney general in the Justice Department.

<>