HOUSTON (CN) - Shell Oil will spend $115 million to reduce pollution from flares at a Texas oil and chemical refinery, another $1 million to monitor benzene levels near a school, and pay a $2.6 million fine, federal prosecutors said.
The settlement regards Clean Air Act violations at a Shell refinery and chemical plant in Deer Park, Texas, near Houston.
The Department of Justice filed the settled complaint on behalf of the EPA.
Prosecutors claim the settlement will reduce the refinery's emission of volatile organic compounds, including carcinogenic benzene, by 4,550 tons a year, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 260,000 tons a year.
Shell refines about 330,000 barrels (1.4 million gallons) of crude oil a day at the plant, making it the 11th largest refinery in the United States.
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