newsletter. Enter your email below to receive more stories like these right to your inbox.MPLX was formed in 2012 in a partnership with Marathon Petroleum Co. to acquire pipelines and compressor stations used to gather, process and transport natural gas. The Ohio-based firm acquired the Utah gas plants in 2019, when it merged with the previous owner, Andeavor Field Services LLC. Andeavor had been acquired the year before by Marathon.
“Through the cooperative efforts to reach this consent decree, MPLX has agreed to certain enhancements in its operations at facilities located in Utah, North Dakota and Wyoming,” the company said in an email in response to a request for comment. “These measures, many of which exceed existing regulatory requirements, are intended to enhance existing operations while simultaneously reducing emissions.
Additionally, it operated a dehydrator at the Wonsits Valley plant for 55 days without an operable flare required for burning off vented hydrocarbons. The settlement requires MPLX to spend up to $4.5 million in mitigation and equipment upgrades and to bring its operations into compliance with EPA regulations.
New controls, requirements, and mitigation projects will reduce ozone-producing air pollution by 95 tons per year and greenhouse gases by 3,850 tons per year from MPLX facilities in North Dakota, Wyoming and the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, according to the EPA.