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EPA and Wyoming's Frontier Refining Inc., resolve enforcement action

Release Date: 06/08/2010
Contact Information: Michael Risner, EPA, 303-312-6890, [email protected]

Frontier agrees to pay $900,000 penalty and perform compliance work for violations of surface impoundment regulations

(Denver, Colo. – June 8, 2010) In a Consent Agreement filed on May 27, 2010 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Frontier Refining Inc., a petroleum facility in Cheyenne, Wyoming, resolved an enforcement action initiated in September 2009.

Frontier will pay a $900,000 penalty and has agreed to disconnect inlet piping which allowed hazardous waste releases to Surface Impoundment 2. The company has agreed to remove and manage all waste in Pond 2 and clean the existing liner this fall. Additionally, Frontier will submit a closure plan with respect to the future use of Pond 2. Frontier estimates the cost of compliance at about $1 million.

Frontier is alleged to have violated the law by storing hazardous wastes in a wastewater pond that was neither constructed nor operated properly to prevent overflowing and leaks. Other violations relate to closing the pond and providing financial assurance for its proper closure. These violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act were discovered during an EPA-led inspection in March 2009.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality had also previously addressed violations and resolutions regarding other impoundments and contamination near the area of EPA’s case. This was accomplished in enforcement cases completed by WDEQ from 2004-2009.

EPA is investigating ponds such as this, referred to as surface impoundments, as part of a nationwide initiative.