Western Refining Fined $350,000 For Emissions Violations

The New Mexico Environmental Department announced it fined Western Refining Company $350,000 for alleged emissions violations in a facility in northwestern New Mexico.

According to NMED, the compressor engines at Western’s refinery east of Gallup released above-normal levels of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide between March and September 2010.

In a statement, the agency said the refinery agreed to pay the fine and has “revised its permitted emission limits and retested the engines to demonstrate compliance.”

The New Mexico Environmental Department also said the emissions did not cause state or federal air quality standards to fail.

The state’s environmental agency reported this is not the first compliance issue for the Gallup refinery. The facility’s previous owner, Giant, was ordered in 2006 to implement “extensive environmental ugrades” at the Gallup and Bloomfield refineries and fined $850,000.

Western Refining Company is the country’s fourth largest publicly traded independent oil refiner. It is based in El Paso.