In coordination with EPA, Aloha Petroleum completes improvements to oil facility in Kahului

The US Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a settlement with Aloha Petroleum LLC over Clean Water Act violations at its oil storage and distribution facility in Kahului, according to the EPA on Wednesday. Under the proposed settlement, Aloha Petroleum will pay a $103,377 civil penalty.

“Aloha Petroleum must improve oil tank safeguards to prevent harmful spills into Hobron Point,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “Today’s action will safeguard public health and protect Maui’s precious water resources against the risk of oil releases.”

In February 2023, EPA inspected the facility to evaluate compliance with the requirements of Clean Water Act Section 311. Based on that inspection, EPA alleges the following violations:

• The secondary containment system was not capable of preventing oil from escaping the system before a potential cleanup could occur. The liner was ripped in multiple locations at the tank farm’s secondary containment area.
• The facility failed to provide sufficient secondary containment capacity that would contain the largest bulk storage container and precipitation.
• The facility failed to comply with the applicable industry standards for integrity testing of the additive bulk storage containers and the requirements for qualifications of workers performing the tests and inspections.

Following EPA’s inspection of the facility, Aloha Petroleum began work on several tasks to address the alleged violations and completed the work earlier this year, according to EPA.

Aloha Petroleum also applied patch kits to affected areas, applied barriers to minimize the risk of release in the event of a tank failure and installed a monitoring camera system with remote capability in the tank farm. In November 2023, they built a new containment wall, restored the liner, and inspected their small wastewater treatment system. Aloha Petroleum has also been conducting and documenting monthly inspections of the above-ground storage tanks for oil.

This settlement is available for public comment until Oct. 11, 2024:  https://www.epa.gov/publicnotices/aloha-petroleum-kahului-maui-hi.

Under the Clean Water Act, EPA established the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule to prevent the discharge of oil from non-transportation related onshore facilities into the waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines. Preventing uncontrolled releases at oil storage and distribution facilities reduces safety risks to workers, the community, and the environment.