DENVER – A natural-gas company will pay a $63,000 fine for violations of the Clean Air Act in La Plata County.
The Environmental Protection Agency filed a lawsuit against Williams Four Corners LLC on Thursday for operating a natural-gas compression station after its permit expired.
Simultaneously, the EPA and Williams filed a proposed settlement, which had been negotiated in advance.
Williams does not admit to wrongdoing in the civil lawsuit.
The problems occurred at the PLA-9 facility, about 18 miles southwest of Durango on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation.
The EPA ran air permitting on the reservation until 2012, when the tribe took over.
In 2002, the EPA took steps under the Clean Air Act to regulate the facility, which consisted of 13 natural-gas compressors, seven glycol dehydrators and numerous storage tanks. The EPA oversees plants such as this because they can be sources of volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides.
Williams got its Clean Air Act permit in 2006, but less than six months later, Williams asked the EPA to stop regulating the plant because it was no longer a major source of pollution. The EPA never canceled the permit, but it expired in 2008.
Williams continued to operate the plant until sometime in 2012, according to the EPA’s complaint in the lawsuit.
Williams has no plans to reopen the plant, according to the proposed settlement. Even so, much of the settlement focuses on making sure Williams complies with permitting rules if it decides to restart the plant.
The settlement needs approval by U.S. Senior District Judge Richard Matsch.
It’s the second time since 2011 that Williams has run afoul of the EPA in the Four Corners. Two years ago, it agreed to a $50,000 fine to settle a lawsuit concerning leaks from its Ignacio gas-processing plant.
In that case, the EPA sued Williams for failing to quickly repair leaks at its Ignacio plant for failing to apply for a permit for a compressor station. In addition to the fine, Williams agreed to start using a better leak-detection and repair system at the Ignacio plant.
jhanel@durangoherald.com
