It has the origins of a great American Success Story – in 1886, in the midst of the Second Industrial Revolution, a vast reservoir of oil was found in Lima, Ohio, prompting legendary entrepreneur John D. Rockefeller to hire John Van Dyke to construct an oil refinery right on the spot. German-American chemist Herman Frasch worked with Van Dyke to perfect a method for taking the sulfur out of Lima’s oil to make it more marketable. The results were explosive (figuratively); The ‘Solar Refinery,’ as it is now called, became the world leader in oil production by 1900, topping out at 190 million barrels. The Refinery holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating refinery in the state.
Almost a century-and-a-half later, the Lima Refining Company (“LRC”) finds itself at the heart of another American story – being on the ‘business’ end of environmental litigation. Last week, the EPA and the Justice Department announced a settlement wherein the LRC would pay $19 million in civil penalties to make up for what is likely decades of benzene and volatile organic compound (“VOC”) emissions into the surrounding environment as a byproduct of the refinement process. Beyond the penalty, LRC has been directed to make nearly $150 million in capital improvements to assist in the training, monitoring, and maintenance of more environmentally-compliant means and methods.
Industry insiders are viewing this result from LRC not so much as a victory or a loss, but almost as a sign of the inevitable, self-writing next chapter in a very American story.
