The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles has filed felony criminal charges against Phillips 66, accusing the company’s Carson refinery of dumping tens of thousands of gallons of oil and grease into the county sewer system.
In an announcement Thursday, the Justice Department said that a federal grand jury had returned a six-count indictment against the Houston-based energy business for knowingly violating the Clean Water Act and then failing to report its actions to authorities. Phillips is charged with two counts of negligently violating the Clean Water Act and four counts of knowingly violating the Clean Water Act.
The company is expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
“With these charges, we are sending a message corporations and individuals need to take their duty to protect the environment seriously,” said United States Atty. Martin Estrada. “We also send a message that no one is above the law. When our environment is harmed, this hurts our community. People deserve clean water. Consumers deserve to have their natural resources protected. The public deserves to have big companies that make big profits follow the law.”
Phillips 66 officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The charges are tied to two massive releases of industrial wastewater from the Phillips 66 Carson refinery four years ago. In the first incident, in November 2020, the refinery discharged 310,000 gallons of contaminated wastewater, which contained more than 64,000 pounds of oil and grease, into the sewer system. The slurry of wastewater contained more than 300 times the allowable levels of oil and grease, as the facility’s treatment and practices were inadequate, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
About three months after the first spill, in February 2021, the refinery unleashed an even larger load of contaminated wastewater. The plant dispensed 480,000 gallons of industrial wastewater, including 33,700 pounds of oil and grease.
In both cases, Phillips 66 failed to inform the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. The agency’s Joint Water Pollution Control Plant managed to collect the contaminated water and prevent it from reaching the ocean. But the massive deluge of oil and grease presented a risk to workers at the county wastewater treatment plant, as it could have resulted in a buildup of flammable methane and exploded.
“This oil and grease is dangerous, the flammable substance that creates a hazard to the plant and all the staff working at the plant,” Estrada said.
The charges follow the October announcement by Phillips 66 that it intends to close its twin-refinery plant in Carson and Wilmington. The complex produces about 8% of California’s gasoline.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
