This case involves various alleged Clean Air Act violations by Marathon Petroleum at 10 Marathon facilities. Marathon failed to comply with certain Clean Air Act fuel quality emissions standards and recordkeeping, sampling and testing requirements. Marathon self-reported many of these issues to EPA.
In their complaint, EPA and DOJ allege that Marathon:
> Produced about 356 million gallons of reformulated gasoline at its Texas City, Texas refinery during 2007 that did not meet Clean Air Act standards for reducing volatile organic compounds. Volatile organic compounds are one of the primary constituents of smog and react in sunlight to form ground-level ozone. Breathing ozone can trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation and congestion, and can worsen bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. Children, the elderly and people who have lung diseases such as asthma are particularly prone to these problems.
> Produced more than 40 million gallons of gasoline at the Texas City, Texas refinery in 2009 that exceeded standards for sulfur levels. The goal of the Clean Air Act program that regulates sulfur in gasoline is to minimize emissions from vehicles and to ensure emissions control systems function effectively.
> Sold about 12 million gallons of gasoline that contained elevated levels of ethanol. Excess ethanol in gasoline can harm emission control components on some vehicles and engines.
> Sold about 1 million gallons of gasolin