Martinez refinery fined $5 million for air-quality violations

A Martinez refinery has been fined $5 million for air-quality violations over a four-year period, authorities said Thursday.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced the penalty against Marathon Martinez Refinery, saying it was for 59 violations from 2018 to 2022. The District said the penalty is the second-largest it has ever assessed.

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The refinery is operated by Marathon subsidiary Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company, LLC.

According to the district, the fines are civil penalties for flaring that happened when Marathon idled its refinery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Marathon improperly flared vapors from storage tanks and loading racks that remained in operation instead of burning them in the production processes,” the district wrote in its statement. “The company also flared gasses related to the shutdown, idling and decommissioning of refinery process units. Much of the refinery was shut down and idled during this time, including the gas plants and related production heaters.”

The district said it also fined the refinery for improperly venting gasses for two hours through a flare that was shut down for maintenance; for three instances of visible emissions from smoky flares; and for several violations involving excess air pollution emissions that included sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and visible particulate emissions.

The delays by the company in completing the necessary repairs also brought fines, the district said.

The district said the company has since corrected the violations. Efforts to reach representatives of the company were not successful immediately.

Please check back for updates.