Two northwest Washington refineries are again in trouble with regulators.
After receiving warnings from the state for nearly a year, the HF Sinclair and Tesoro refineries near Anacortes face million-dollar fines for failing to clean up thousands of gallons of dangerous and corrosive liquids.
These are the latest in a long list of violations, including for toxic emissions, oil spills and safety lapses, at the refineries, heightening concerns for those who live in the area.
Washington’s Department of Ecology announced Tuesday it would fine the Sinclair refinery $1.3 million and the Tesoro refinery $1.4 million. Both operations failed to safely handle toxic chemicals leftover as part of the refining process, the department said in a release.
All of Washington state’s oil refineries are on or near tribal reservations, and near these two sits the Swinomish Tribal Indian Community, which has been an outspoken voice regarding the industry’s inherent risks. Tribal Chairman Steve Edwards said in a statement he was both surprised and concerned to learn of the latest problems.
“Any one of these violations involving hazardous wastes could have perilous consequences for our Community’s health and for our Treaty resources,” Edwards said in a statement.
At the HF Sinclair site, oily wastewater overflowed into a containment area in fall 2023, the release said. While the containment area is meant to capture spills, it’s not designed to store dangerous waste for long periods.
The hazardous sludge remained in that containment area for nearly a year before refinery staff removed it, the release said. Afterward, they discovered the single liner for the overspill area had been ripped.
“The lengthy delay in cleaning up the spill unacceptably increased risks that the material could have escaped into the environment,” the release said.
Problems at the Tesoro refinery — owned by the Marathon Petroleum Corporation — stretch back further, the release said. Inspectors in 2022 noticed that a 150,000-gallon pond holding spent sulfuric acid was growing too corrosive.
The waste is a part of the refining process and the acidity needs to be controlled to keep it from eating away at the pond’s protective liner meant to keep the chemicals out of the environment, the release said. Frequently the fluid in the pond reached the same corrosivity as battery acid.
Tesoro took nine months to find a safer way to manage the acid and the company is still working with Ecology to remove the remaining residue in the pond, the release said.
A representative for the Marathon said the refinery is working with Ecology to “resolve this matter.” The pond in question is no longer in use and refinery officials are finalizing a closure plan. Representatives for HF Sinclair did not respond to a request for comment.
The refineries are two of Washington’s largest industrial plants, handling millions of gallons of hazardous materials every day, Tom Buroker, director of Ecology’s Northwest Region said in the release.
“They have the expertise, the resources, and the responsibility to extend that level of attention to their waste,” Buroker said. “In both instances, the refineries improperly held large amounts of dangerous waste over an extended period of time, which compounded the risk of serious harm to people and the environment.”
Both facilities have a history with state and federal regulators. As recently as last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency labeled the HF Sinclair refinery a “Significant Noncomplier” under certain regulations. Similarly, the Tesoro refinery earlier this year was found by the EPA to be in significant noncompliance with Clean Water Act regulations.
In 2016 the EPA fined Tesoro nearly $720,000 for alleged safety violations and in 2010 an explosion at the refinery killed seven workers. In 2015, a toxic cloud of gas spewed from Shell Oil’s refinery (later bought by HF Sinclair), sickening more than 500 people and resulting in a $191,000 fine.
These penalties can amount to a fraction of income for the refineries’ parent companies. For context, Marathon Petroleum reported a net income of $1.2 billion in the second quarter of this year while HF Sinclair reported a net income of $208 million for the same time frame.
There have been some high-dollar penalties, however.
Last year a U.S. District Court Judge ordered BNSF Railway to pay the Swinomish just under $400 million for trespassing on the reservation. Days before that civil trial was set to begin, two BNSF engines derailed on tribal land, leaking more than 3,000 gallons of diesel near Padilla Bay.
Of the most recent fines for HF Sinclair and Tesoro, Edwards said he appreciates Ecology’s work and expressed a hope that the refineries practices will “significantly improve as a result.”
Ecology is continuing to investigate possible environmental harm from the refineries’ missteps, the department’s release said.
