COURT ENTERED CONSENT DECREE - EPA AND SUNOCO SETTLE CLEAN WATER ACT PENALTY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF 2000 OIL SPILL IN JOHN HEINZ NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE FOR $2,742,600.
On or about February 2, 2000, a pipeline owned by Sun Pipeline Company and operated by Sunoco, Inc. (R&M) (collectively, Sunoco ) discharged approximately 4,571 barrels of oil from a subsurface pipeline into wetlands in the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. The discharge occurred from a defective mitred joint on the pipeline.
On July 27, 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice ( DOJ ) filed a civil Complaint against Sunoco in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the EPA and the Department of the Interior ( DOI ), acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( FWS ). The Complaint seeks penalties under Section 311 of the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. ?? 1321, as well as Natural Resource Damages. At the same time, DOJ lodged a proposed Consent Decree ( CD ), which will settle this matter. Under the proposed CD, Sunoco would pay a civil penalty of $2,742,600 in cash, which would be paid to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, and $865,000 in Natural Resource Damages to resolve claims by the DOI. On September 28, 2005, the Court entered the Consent Decree.