Two Shell Chemical companies have agreed to install $6 million worth of pollution control upgrades to control petroleum plant emissions. Shell Chemical L.P. and Shell Chemical Yabucoa agreed on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 to two comprehensive Clean Air Act settlements wherein the two Shell companies will also pay a combined $3.3 million civil penalty to the United States as well as to Alabama and Louisiana, and $200,000 to Louisiana organizations for environmental education and emergency operations.

Under the settlements, Shell Chemical L.P. will apply new air pollution control technologies and implement other measures to reduce emissions from some of the largest emitting units at its petroleum refining facilities in Saraland, Ala. and St. Rose, La. Shell Chemical Yabucoa operates a facility in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. The company shut down its refinery there in 2009, but still continues to operate the existing gasoline terminal there. Collectively the three facilities had a combined production capacity of approximately 235,000 barrels per day.

Under the settlements, the companies must reduce air emissions of SO₂, NO_X and other harmful pollutants by more than 1,450 tons per year.

The two refineries in Alabama and Louisiana, and the terminal operations in Puerto Rico will upgrade their leak-detection and repair practices to reduce harmful emissions from pumps and valves, implement programs to minimize the number and severity of flaring events, and adopt new strategies for ensuring continued compliance with benzene waste requirements under the Clean Air Act.

"These settlements demonstrate EPA's continuing commitment to increase compliance and reduce emissions from this industrial sector," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

"These two settlements are excellent examples of businesses working with government to achieve compliance at their facilities around the country, which will benefit the health of local communities and the environment," said Ignacia S. Moreno, Environment and Natural Resource Division Assistant Attorney General. "We will continue to work with industry to achieve compliance under the Clean Air Act to remove harmful pollution from the air we breathe."

The states of Alabama and Louisiana actively participated in and are joining in the settlement with Shell Chemical, which was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The settlement with Shell Chemical Yabucoa was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. Each settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.