Oil Refiner Agrees to Reduce Emissions

ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. oil refiner, will spend at least $525 million to reduce emissions at refineries in California and six other states, the Bush administration said Thursday.

The Houston-based company also agreed to pay a $4.5-million civil penalty for violations of the federal Clean Air Act and to spend an additional $10 million on clean-air programs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department said.

The agreement will require ConocoPhillips to spend more than $525 million over eight years on pollution controls intended to reduce emissions by more than 47,000 tons a year, the government said.

The agreement covers nine ConocoPhillips refineries representing nearly 10% of total U.S. refining capacity, the government said. It is among the largest of 13 settlements the EPA has reached with U.S. refiners in the last four years.

But the EPA’s inspector general reported in June that the agency does a poor job tracking compliance with the agreements, and environmental groups said deadlines in previous settlements have been repeatedly extended.

“The announcement is good, but implementation is more important and there have been some problems,” said Eric Schaeffer, director of the Environmental Integrity Project and a former EPA official who worked on refinery settlements.

ConocoPhillips said that it “is committed to achieving these significant emissions reductions.” The refineries are in Wilmington and Rodeo in California and in Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. Its three other U.S. refineries are covered by a similar 2001 agreement.

Shares of ConocoPhillips rose 51 cents to $91 on the New York Stock Exchange.