“Today’s record Clean Air Act settlement is an important step under EPA’s climate enforcement initiative and makes clear that EPA will hold corporate polluters like Marathon accountable for violations that put communities and our future at risk,” said EPA Assistant Administrator David Uhlmann. The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said in a statement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that the settlement would “ensure cleaner air” for communities across North Dakota, while holding Marathon accountable for its illegal pollution.
Marathon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a complaint, the EPA and Justice Department accused Marathon of violating Clean Air Act requirements at nearly 90 facilities, including the Fort Bertold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota. The agencies said the violations caused thousands of tons of illegal pollution.
Specifically, the facilities released illegal levels of volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide, which have been linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses, the agencies said. Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that warms the planet faster than carbon dioxide in the short term, has been released in large quantities.
Under the agreement announced Thursday, Marathon must take steps to cut back More than 2.25 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next five years — the equivalent of emissions avoided by taking 487,000 cars off the road for a year, the EPA said in a news release. The agency said the solution would prevent nearly 110,000 tons of volatile organic compound emissions.
Although Marathon ranked as the nation’s 22nd largest oil producer in 2022, it was the seventh largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the oil and gas industry. Most of these emissions come from flaring — the practice of intentionally releasing methane into the atmosphere, rather than building equipment to capture it.
