The day before a fire erupted at a Deer Park tank farm, sending thick, billowing smoke over Houston that could be seen for days, a separate blaze had started in a furnace at the Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Baytown refinery and extinguished hours later.
The Exxon Mobil fire drew little media attention as crews worked for days to put out a blaze 12 miles away at the Intercontinental Terminals Co. plant in Deer Park. But Harris County environmental officials say the Baytown refinery fire was not a benign event, and a report to the state shows that it in fact it released toxic pollutants into the air for eight days.
Now county officials are seeking to send a message to the Irving-based company about “unauthorized emissions.” After issuing a notice of violation on April 11, Harris County Pollution Control last month filed a civil suit accusing Exxon Mobil of violating provisions of the federal Clean Air Act. It is seeking temporary and permanent injunctions to ensure, among other things, there are no additional violations or future unauthorized emissions, according to court documents. No hearings have been scheduled.
The actions come as Harris County takes a more aggressive posture toward polluters, filing criminal charges and seeking civil damages in several high-profile environmental incidents.
Rock Owens, Harris County’s chief environmental prosecutor, said he filed a civil suit as a way to ensure compliance. The bottom line, he said, “it was an unauthorized emissions release and that’s illegal.”
“I want to make sure the company implements procedures that ensure this doesn’t happen again,” he said, “and the only way I can do that is to go to court and get an injunction.”
The administrative process doesn’t carry the same weight as a court order, Owens said. The county attorney’s office will request an independent audit to develop a remediation plan that a judge would enforce. At this point, the county has stated in court documents that it is not seeking civil penalties.
Exxon Mobil officials said they plan to rebut the lawsuit’s allegations. In a written statement, the company called itself “a leader in safe, reliable and environmentally responsible operations.”
“We are committed to operating in a manner that protects the safety and health of our personnel and our community,” the company said.
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