Phillips 66, the major US oil and gas company, is facing federal charges for allegedly dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of polluted wastewater into the Los Angeles County sewer system.
A federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment this week, charging the Houston-based company with two counts of negligently violating the Clean Water Act and four counts of knowingly violating the Clean Water Act, it said United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Thursday. The charges were filed in connection with two spills that occurred within three months of each other, when federal prosecutors alleged a total of 200,000 gallons of heavily contaminated wastewater was dumped into LA sewers from the company’s oil processing plant in Carson.
Last month, Phillips 66 announced it would close the Carson plant and the rest of its refinery in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles – blaming the shutdown about market dynamics and concerns about the LA refinery’s “long-term sustainability.”
CBS News Los Angeles has reached out to Phillips 66 for comment.
The publicly traded energy giant, which reported $7 billion in profits in 2023, could face up to $2.4 million Prosecutors say they face fines and probation of up to five years on each charge if convicted of all charges.
On the morning of November 24, 2020, approximately 310,000 gallons of industrial wastewater – containing approximately 64,000 pounds of oil and grease – were discharged into LA’s sewer system, federal prosecutors allege. It contained a concentration of oil and grease that prosecutors say is more than 300 times greater than the amount allowed in the business permit.
The following month, the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LACSD) issued multiple violation notices to the company in connection with the alleged dumping of excessive amounts of oil and grease, accusing the company of failing to notify sanitation officials of the leak.
A manager at Phillips later acknowledged the incident, prosecutors say, and told LACSD that the company would “retrain operations staff” on how to handle such spills and how to notify sanitation workers if and when these occur.
Less than three months later, however, Phillips’ Carson refinery dumped another 100,000 gallons of heavily polluted industrial wastewater into the public sewage system, federal prosecutors allege. According to prosecutors, the wastewater contained at least 33,700 pounds of oil and grease and was discharged into the sewer over five and a half hours on February 8, 2021.
After this spill, LACSD issued violation notices to Phillips due to the massive contamination and failure to notify sanitation officials, prosecutors said. A Phillips manager again acknowledges the violation and failure to notify sanitation officials.
Prosecutors said the company is expected to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating the matter.
