The Swinomish tribal Indian Community has welcomed the Northwest Clean Air Agency in issuing a large penalty to a local refinery.
Shell’s Puget Sound Refinery in Anacortes is receiving a $60,000 fine stemming from two incidents that exceeded allowable emissions.
The flaring events on August 19th and September 29th 2020 also released odors in the areas surrounding the refinery, confirmed by the NWCAA after reports passed along by the Swinomish Tribal Indian Community.
The September 29th event resulted from the sudden failure of a key piece of equipment, responsible for breaking down low-grade hydrocarbons.
The failure allowed for chemicals such as sulfur to combust before being released into the air, causing the excessive odors.
Descriptions of the odors and their impacts are similar to a February 2015 incident at the same facility for which Shell was fined $133,000.