ST. PAUL PARK - Regulators penalized St. Paul Park Refining Co. for improperly handling wastewater containing benzene, a hazardous liquid that could have been released from the oil refinery into the nearby Mississippi River.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency fined the company $40,000 for that and other violations, mostly related to improper toxic chemical storage at the St. Paul Park facility. The civil penalty was part of a stipulation agreement between the MPCA and the company, a division of Northern Tier Energy.
The company signed the agreement but did not agree with the allegations, said Northern Tier spokesman Paul Anderson. The agreement required four corrective actions, and the company has completed all of them, Anderson said.
The improper wastewater handling occurred from Jan. 4, 2011, to Sept. 10, 2012. The company discharged more than 4 million gallons of the wastewater into an unlined lagoon at the refinery. The liquid contained 2.7 million gallons of benzene, the MPCA said.
Anderson said there was no proof that wastewater containing benzene left the lagoon.
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Environmental rules cover both actual and potential toxic releases, said MPCA spokesman Sam Brungardt.
