DELAWARE CITY, Del. (AP)- The Delaware City Refining Company will pay $70,000 in a settlement involving months of air pollution violations, state officials said.
The settlement announced Monday would resolve the refinery's air pollution-related violations that occurred between November 2018 and June 2019.
Regulators initially assessed a penalty of $90,000 plus about $2,000 in additional costs for the investigation. The refinery appealed that fine.
The settlement includes violations from a fire in February 2019 that shut down two highways for hours and sent more than 6,000 pounds of "various pollutants" into the air, according to a news release from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
That fire largely included the release of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide into the air, according to DNREC records. Both chemicals are considered poisonous and can cause a slew of health problems if inhaled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The settlement announced Monday would resolve the refinery's air pollution-related violations that occurred between November 2018 and June 2019.
According to DNREC's environmental release notification system, the refinery reported releases of benzene, hydrogen sulfide, fuel oil, crude oil and petroleum in late 2018 and the first half of 2019. Since July 2019, the refinery has reported eight other hazardous releases of sulfur dioxide, propylene, propane and petroleum products, one as recently as Jan. 25.