The Environmental Protection Agency fined an Alaska company for violations of the Clean Air Act, as reported in a March 8 news release.
Hilcorp Alaska was reportedly fined $180,580 for Clean Air Act violations at 35 of its facilities in Prudhoe Bay, Milne Point and Kenai Peninsula from 2018 to 2020.
“The public needs to be able to depend on a major facility owner like Hilcorp obeying the rules for providing accurate and honest reporting of maintenance activities," said Ed Kowalski, director of the EPA Region 10 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. "Requirements to conduct emissions monitoring and timely repair or replacement of the sources should be at the top of this company’s priority list.”
According to the release, Hilcorp Alaska was found guilty of allowing methane and volatile organic compound leaks to go undetected and unrepaired, failing to conduct leak inspections at a new facility and did not follow necessary reporting requirements on leak inspections.
EPA reported the oil and gas industry "is the largest industrial source of methane and smog-forming volatile organic compounds." Due to this, companies are required to reduce fugitive methane and volatile organic compound leaks with a regular inspection system and prompt repairs to any leaks.
