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ConocoPhillips fined $485,000 Tyonek platform violations occurred from 1999-2004; company, EPA, say problems have been corrected Dan Joling Associated Press Writer
ConocoPhillips will pay $485,000 in penalties for violations of the Clean Water Act at its Tyonek natural gas platform in upper Cook Inlet, two federal agencies said Aug. 12.
The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency said the violations at the platform between Kenai and Anchorage — much of it the dumping of raw sewage — occurred for five years between 1999 and this year.
The Houston-based company reported more than 470 violations to the EPA. All but six were failures to comply with the facility’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, which sets limits for certain pollutants to be discharged, as well as sampling and reporting requirements. Six other violations were for discharges not authorized by the permit.
ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Dawn Patience said the company voluntarily reported the violations, starting last summer.
“We regret the incidents occurred and we took steps to correct the technical nature of some of the incidents and to reduce the likelihood that similar incidents would occur in the future,” she said. Ten to 20 workers staff platform The platform at any given time is staffed by 10 to 20 workers, EPA spokesman Bill Dunbar said. The gas platform violated its allowable discharges of copper and total suspended solids and its allowable levels of “biological oxygen demand,” he said.
Copper is toxic to marine organisms, including mussels and crabs and can accumulate in oysters, according to the agency.
Suspended solids can have a direct impact on fish, Dunbar said.
“It can kill them, reduce their growth rate and their resistance to disease,” Dunbar said. Increased turbidity also is a potential problem.
“It can reduce the amount of light that can penetrate the water column,” he said. “That can reduce food growth.”
Limits on biological oxygen demand are aimed at ensuring adequate dissolved oxygen is available for sea life in surrounding waters.
The permit also required that the platform disinfect its discharges with chlorine. The facility often failed to meet its chlorine treatment requirements, Dunbar said. Problems have been corrected ConocoPhillips has corrected the problems at the platform, Dunbar said, and the EPA is not demanding further action.
Patience said the company firmly believes the violations did not pose a risk to human health, safety or the environment.
“Testing done showed that the routine wastewater was diluted within a radius of three to five feet of the platform,” she said. The company has performed a stringent review of compliance procedures, trained personnel and modified the platform to minimize the need for discharges of water produced from gas production. The intent is to reinject that water, Patience said.
Some violations were reported as they occurred. Others were discovered during a routine internal review and reported last summer for the first time, she said.
“Some of them were results of basically incorrect interpretation of permit limits on our part,” she said.
Mike Bussell, director of the EPA office of enforcement in Seattle, said agency officials were disappointed that so many violations occurred over such a long time but was pleased with the company’s cooperation.
“The company reported its violations to us and then corrected the problems,” he said. “That’s the way it should work.”
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