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Feb 15, 2007 11:50 AM

A Connecticut oil storage and delivery company will pay a fine of $22,500 under the terms of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to plan adequately for and guard against oil spills at a bulk storage facility in Essex CT and its offices in Westbrook CT.

According to EPA information, the penalty for the Pennywise Oil Company Inc of Westbrook CT resulted because the company did not fully implement Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans for a tank farm it operated in Essex and at an office location it owns in Westbrook, as required by the federal Clean Water Act.

An inspector from EPA’s New England office inspected the Pennywise facility with a representative from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s Emergency Response Unit in February 2006 and found that the company failed to construct adequate secondary containment around its aboveground oil storage tanks, truck off-loading area, and loading rack, leading to a risk of a spill to surface waters in the event of discharges during transfer operations or from equipment failure.

EPA said that Pennywise has had two prior oil spills caused by overfilling its oil tanks at the Essex tank farm. The spills occurred in November 2005 and January 2006. The location of the Essex facility means that spills at the tank farm could impact navigable waters. A spill occurring at the Essex storage facility could contaminate the Falls River, a tributary of the Connecticut River.

More information about SPCC plans can be found on the EPA Web site at epa.gov.