Mapco parent to pay $350,000 to settle EPA complaint

by The Associated Press

The parent company of Mapco Alaska Petroleum Inc. has agreed to pay $350,000 to settle an Anchorage air-pollution case, federal environmental officials said June 3.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it and The Williams Companies have signed an agreement that ends the complaint.

Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams bought Mapco last year. Mapco Alaska’s name has been changed to Williams Alaska Petroleum Inc.

The complaint stemmed mostly from violations of the federal Clean Air Act at Mapco’s tank farm at the Port of Anchorage.

The EPA alleged that, from 1994 to 1998, Mapco released fuel vapors from storage tanks used without EPA’s knowledge and without certification that they met Clean Air Act standards.

EPA said Mapco self-reported some of its air-pollution violations at the Anchorage tank farm, where the company stores gasoline, naphtha and other petroleum products refined in North Pole.

The self-reporting qualified the company for a 30 percent reduction in its fine, EPA said.