United States v. Aux Sable Liquid Products LP

The federal government and the owner of a natural gas processing plant in Illinois lodged a proposed consent decree in the federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, Illinois law, and the plant’s permits. The alleged violations concerned fugitive emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The owner agreed to pay a $2.7 million civil penalty and to spend at least $4.5 million on pollution controls and projects to reduce VOC and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. In addition, the consent decree requires the owner to implement environmental mitigation projects at locomotive switchyards at a cost of no less than $3 million. The mitigation projects will have environmental benefits including reductions in annual emissions of VOCs, NOx, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). A comment period on the proposed consent decree was scheduled to close on December 3, 2018.