An investigation into a New Haven petroleum distribution facility uncovered several alleged violations of state environmental laws. State officials announced a $2 million settlement Tuesday with Pike Fuels.
Facilities distributing petroleum are hazardous, so they’re subject to various state and federal regulations. But Pike Fuels, which had been doing business as Gulf Oil, allegedly falsified records documenting leaks, which the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection found during routine inspection of the coastal location in 2021.
Twenty one of the 24 months of leak log records inspected showed fabrication, DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said. “Dates that were whited out, resulting in nonsensical data mismatch, signatures and other inconsistencies and discrepancies,” she said.
Accurate documentation is important to check emissions leakage, and important for protecting the public from exposure to dangerous pollutants, Dykes said.
“Gulf Oil’s pattern of falsification of records threatened to undermine DEEP’s ability to monitor compliance at the New Haven bulk terminal, and they compromised DEEP’s efforts to protect public health and the environment, as we’ve been charged to do so,” Dykes said.
The company didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Of the $2 million settlement, over half the amount is civil penalty. The remaining amount will fund environmental remediation, mitigation and monitoring in New Haven, along with local environmental justice initiatives.
“This isn’t just about environmental law. It’s not about regulations. It’s about keeping people safe,” Attorney General William Tong said.
New Haven is already among Connecticut’s environmentally “distressed municipalities” according to DEEP. The Long Wharf neighborhood carries some of the city’s heaviest environmental burden, CIRCA’s environmental justice mapping tool shows.
“This settlement sends a clear message to Gulf Oil and other actors that if you violate our environmental laws and standards, there will be a price to pay,” New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said.
Tong said it’s important for DEEP to have the “horsepower” to do its job in cases such as these, with discussions from President-elect Donald Trump’s administration about dismantling federal regulatory agencies.
“The attack on our nation’s regulatory system and infrastructure imperils all of this work that we need to do to keep people safe,” Tong said.
Pike Fuels, doing business as Gulf Oil, ran the New Haven facility for three dozen years, until selling the terminal to Global Partners Limited in April this year.
This story was first published Nov. 19, 2024 by Connecticut Public.