Alabama’s Department of Environmental Management is hitting oil and gas production company Atmore with a $160,000 levy for numerous air quality violations.
ADEM has offered a consent order to Escambia Operating Company, the owner/operator of the Big Escambia Creek (BEC) oil and natural gas producing and processing facility on Sardis Church Road, approximately five miles north of the Alabama-Florida border. The department is proposing a civil penalty of $160,000 for 83 sulfur dioxide emissions violations.
According to the consent order, Escambia Operating committed 1,735 total violations of the three-hour and 24-hour sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission standards during the first months of 2022. The civil penalty covers 83 violations because the number of continuing violations that can be cited per day are limited by state law.
“The Department is not aware of any irreparable harm to the environment resulting from the violations,” the draft order states.