Viva Energy Australia has engaged independent experts to assist in identifying the root cause of four licence exceedences recorded during late 2015 and early 2016 and the potential solution to prevent further exceedences.
Refinery General Manager, Thys Heyns, said he was disappointed with the performance and accepts the Penalty Infringement Notice issued by EPA relating to an incident in November last year when a refinery unit exceeded its fluoride licence limit by 20 grams.
"Viva Energy takes its environmental responsibilities seriously and I am confident that through the additional support we are seeking - along with our continued work with the EPA - we can avoid these issues happening in the future," he said.
"We know that there is a correlation between production during summer months and increased emissions. Once the investigation is complete, we will need to investigate how we can implement and recommended solutions, while still meeting our customer's needs.
"Our offsite emission monitors recorded no fluoride spikes arising from the four incidents, indicating that there was no detrimental impact to the community and environment.
"As we have done in the past, we will donate the dollar value of this PIN to Greening Australia and we will continue to keep the community updated on our environmental performance."
Viva Energy Australia Media Hotline: +61 428 750 875
Further information on the incidents and our environmental management programs visit http://www.vivaenergy.com.au/operations/geelong/environment