ANACORTES, Wash. — An Anacortes refinery is facing a possible penalty because of incidents last year that caused a rotten egg smell to shroud the area.
The Northwest Clean Air Agency has issued a Notice of Violation to Shell, addressing two refinery flaring events in August and September 2020 for which they received several complaints from community members.
Their investigation found that the emissions resulted from a sudden equipment failure, which caused the facility to combust chemicals like sulfur and release a cloud of black smoke into the air.
The agency fined Shell after a similar incident in 2015, costing them $133,000.