Calumet Shreveport LLC agreed to pay $230,000 to resolve Clean Air Act violations stemming from an Oct. 30, 2008, incident at its Midway Street Lubricants facility in Shreveport, La., the Environmental Protection Agency said last week.
An accidental release and fire occurred Oct. 30 at the Calumets facilitys sour water tank while vacuum trucks were removing residual oil from an open manway. The three-alarm fire produced thick black smoke for two hours. It did not impact base oil production at the Shreveport base oil plant, the company said.
The Clean Air Act requires owners and operators of facilities that produce, process, handle or store hazardous substances to prevent accidental releases. The settlement addresses the companys noncompliance by failing to prevent the release and fire, and failing to follow its policy requiring sources of ignition to be removed from the vicinity of a tank before emptying or venting. The EPAs inspection Nov. 18 to 21 last year also found that Calumet failed to implement safe work practices and that employees lacked both vapor monitoring equipment and proper personal protective equipment.
Calumet spokeswoman Liz Swaine emphasized the company implemented many changes since the incident. The fire was caused by a contractor’s vehicle, Swaine told Lube Report. We intend not to allow that to happen again. Within hours after the accident, Calumet had initiated a contractor safety alert which demands that air monitoring be done continuously when contractor vehicles are inside restricted zones. Weve also increased safety training for our employees, heightened training for contractors, hired safety consultants and technicians to monitor our job performance, and re-invigorated and strengthened our in-plant firefighting unit.
Contractors went places they werent supposed to go and did some things they werent supposed to do, but ultimately the responsibility for prevention of incidents is ours, said plant manager Tom Germany.
Calumet had hired Germany as new plant manager just weeks prior to the accident and was already making plans for increased safety training, Swaine said. The plant is now working toward the goal of “Target Zero” safety issues, she added.
According to a company statement, all contractors are being held to policies and procedures that are in place and are being reminded in strongest possible terms that failure to comply will end their relationship with Calumet.
In addition to the fine, Calumet agreed to comply with recommendations in Nov. 24, 2004, and Jan. 26, 2008, audit reports prepared for the company by Houston-based Process Safety and Reliability Group Inc. Calumet must certify by Oct. 30, 2009, that the audit reports recommendations have been fully addressed and implemented.