Plains All American Pipeline to Pay $44.25M for Oil Spills

Cleanup in Homochitto National Forest in Mississippi;
photo courtesy of the US EPA.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Justice Department announced that Plains All American Pipeline and several of its operating subsidiaries have agreed to spend approximately $41 million to upgrade 10,420 miles of crude oil pipeline operated in the United States. The settlement resolves Plains’ Clean Water Act violations for 10 crude oil spills in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and requires the company to pay a $3.25 million civil penalty

Approximately 6,510 barrels (273,420 gallons) of crude oil were discharged from various pipelines and one tank owned and operated by Plains into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Most of the spills were caused by corrosion on the pipelines.

The $3,250,000 civil penalty will be paid to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

From the EPA website.

EPA Proposes Stringent New Air Quality Standards for Lead

From sspc.org

First change since 1978 planned
The EPA has proposed revising the national ambient air quality standards for lead from 1.5 _g/m3 to within the range of 0.10 to 0.30 _g/m3 measured as total suspended particles. The allowable level will be based on the current time weighted average of a calendar quarter method or revised to apply across a 3-year span, with the reported lead value within the 3-year span based on the second-highest monthly average calculated during the span.

The agency is also proposing corresponding changes to data handling procedures, including those ambient air monitoring and reporting requirements related to sampling and analysis methods, network design, sampling schedule, and data reporting.

As required by court order, the EPA Administrator signed a notice of final rulemaking for publication in the Federal Register on September 15, 2008. A new monitoring network is expected to be in place by January 1, 2010, which will allow the agency to more accurately designate nonattainment areas by September 2011.

For further information see epa.gov.