Craig Czarnecki, a DNR spokesperson, said permit limits are set in line with state and federal regulations to protect public health and the environment. However, he declined to comment further on the causes behind the alleged violations because enforcement remains ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe alleged violations do not necessarily mean that the air quality around the facility exceeded state or federal air quality standards,\u201d Czarnecki said.<\/p>\n
In a Jan. 13 letter<\/a>, the DNR alleged 17 violations that include failure to limit emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon monoxide that can come from burning fuels. Exposure to such pollutants can make it difficult to breathe<\/a> and worsen respiratory issues like asthma or lead to other serious health problems.<\/p>\n It\u2019s relatively significant that the state issued the notices of violation, said Steph Tai, an environmental law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Tai said that indicates lower level efforts to address concerns didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe alleged violations suggest that the company is not meeting the permit requirements, and those permit requirements are designed to protect human health,\u201d Tai said.<\/p>\n In a statement, a Cenovus spokesperson said the alleged violations are based on events that largely stem from short-term issues following its $1.2 billion rebuild of the refinery, most of which the company said have been resolved. That project came after a 2018 explosion at the facility<\/a>. WPR obtained letters summarizing enforcement meetings that state the company believes emission exceedances were short-term and not expected to reoccur. Although, the company said it continues to confront issues due to the design and safe operation of a unit used to make gasoline at the refinery.<\/p>\n News with a little more humanity<\/p>\n WPR\u2019s \u201cWisconsin Today\u201d newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.<\/p>\n EPA lists refinery with \u2018high priority violation\u2019 of Clean Air Act<\/p>\n The EPA\u2019s website shows the refinery has a \u201chigh priority violation<\/a>\u201d of the federal Clean Air Act, which can indicate violations that take place regularly or intermittently for at least seven days. The agency\u2019s website shows the facility had a significant violation in 4 of the last 12 quarters.<\/p>\n Based on a 2024 inspection and compliance reports, the DNR found the refinery didn\u2019t monitor fine particle pollution for almost 20 percent of the time from January through April last year.<\/p>\n The refinery also allegedly failed to limit emissions for nitrogen oxides under its permit over a 7-day average for more than half the quarter in late 2023, as well as limit sulfur dioxide emissions for 25 percent of the time during the first quarter of 2024. <\/p>\n Superior residents have voiced concerns about odor and increasing emissions of benzene and other pollutants<\/a> since the refinery resumed operations. The DNR said increased emissions were expected for all pollutants with the refinery starting back up, noting that odors don\u2019t necessarily mean unhealthy air or problems with pollution controls.<\/p>\n Even so, Superior resident Lynn Wohlwend said the smell of sulfur has been pretty constant from the refinery.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t enjoy being in my yard when that smell is out,\u201d Wohlwend said, who lives about a mile from the facility. <\/p>\n Wohlwend and others want to see more air quality monitoring, citing a proposal by utilities to build a $1 billion gas-fired power plant in the city. The DNR previously conducted monitoring in Superior, but the agency has said it lacks funding<\/a> to support additional monitors.<\/p>\n Superior resident Patty Lier said the DNR is relying on an air monitor in Duluth, which she noted did not record pollution<\/a> from the 2018 explosion. The DNR acknowledged the nearest regulatory monitor in Duluth did not detect significant changes to air quality during or after the 2018 fire.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would like a regulatory air monitor here because we have the only refinery in the state, and we should have one that actually represents the quality of the air here,\u201d Lier said.<\/p>\n Superior resident Pam Savoy noted the city does have multiple PurpleAir monitors<\/a> that track air quality, but the air sensors can incorrectly estimate<\/a> pollutant levels. <\/p>\n \u201cWe feel that they\u2019re doing a fairly good job. But the problem is, if those numbers suddenly spike and we have a concern, they\u2019re not regulatory air monitors,\u201d Savoy said. \u201cThe EPA and DNR really can just dismiss that data.\u201d<\/p>\n The DNR said its air quality monitoring network is funded by federal grants, and the agency doesn\u2019t receive funding to support monitoring beyond what\u2019s federally required or conduct monitoring focused on a specific facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wisconsin Public Radio, \u00a9 Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State environmental regulators allege Wisconsin\u2019s only oil refinery has committed more than two dozen violations of the state\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-191642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a>
\u201cWhen deviations from permitted conditions occur, the Refinery takes action to bring the facility back into compliance as promptly and safely as possible,\u201d a Cenovus spokesperson said. \u201cThe Refinery remains cooperative with the WDNR throughout this process, self-reports deviations when they occur, and remains committed to meeting our regulatory requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/enhanced_closeup-scaled.jpg\")
The Cenovus refinery in Superior cost $1.2 billion to rebuild. The refinery resumed operations in 2023.\u00a0Danielle Kaeding\/WPR<\/p>\n