Motiva fined $10 million

Houston-based Motiva Enterprises has pleaded guilty to negligently endangering workers at its former refinery in Delaware City, Delaware, discharging pollutants into the Delaware River and negligently releasing sulphuric acid into the air, both in violation of the US Clean Air Act.

For its trouble, the company has been fined $10 million by a US Federal Court and is to serve a three-year term of probation.

Motiva, an oil refining and retail business owned by Shell Oil Company and Saudi Refining, refines and markets gasoline to approximately 9,400 Shell-branded and Texaco-branded gasoline stations.

On July 17, 2001, Tank 393, a 415,000 gallon capacity tank at Motiva’s Delaware City Refinery, exploded while containing spent sulphuric acid, which is a mixture of sulfuric acid, water, and hydrocarbons.

The explosion killed one worker, Jeffrey Davis, and injured numerous others. Spent sulphuric acid from the tank farm spilled into the Delaware River, resulting in thousands of dead fish and crabs.

The $10 million fine is the largest criminal environmental fine in Delaware history.