This settlement resolves claims that Rocky Mountain Pipeline System, LLC, Western Convenience Stores, Inc., and Offen Petroleum, Inc. illegally mixed and distributed more than 1 million gallons of gasoline that did not meet Clean Air Act emissions and fuel quality requirements.
Rocky Mountain Pipeline System, LLC (Rocky Mountain) owns and operates petroleum product terminals in Dupont and Fountain, Colo. Rocky Mountain is an indirect subsidiary of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., which is a publicly traded master limited partnership engaged in the transportation, storage, terminalling and marketing of refined products and other petroleum products.
Western Convenience Stores, Inc. (Western) owns and operates retail gasoline stations in Colorado and Nebraska.
Offen Petroleum, Inc. (Offen) owns and operates retail gasoline stations in Denver and distributes gasoline and diesel fuel to customers in Colorado and Wyoming.
The Defendants produced gasoline at Rocky MountainÂs terminals in Dupont and Fountain by blending natural gasoline and ethanol with previously certified gasoline (PCG) in tanker trucks. Natural gasoline is a byproduct of natural gas production.
Section 211 of the Clean Air Act allows refiners to produce gasoline by adding blendstocks to previously certified gasoline, but anyone that produces gasoline by this method must meet the same emissions standards as other refiners and must comply with similar sampling, testing and quality assura