Shell Oil pays fine for toxic gas that sickened tribal members

Feb. 11—A toxic cloud of gas loaded with more than 700 pounds of air pollutants spewed from a stack at Shell Oil’s refinery in Anacortes in February 2015, sickening more than 500 people.

Six years later, Equilon Enterprises, doing business as Shell Oil Products US, has agreed to a legal settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, resolving violations of the federal Clean Air Act in connection with the toxic release. Under the settlement, the company paid a penalty of $191,000 to the EPA.

Shell calculated that an error during maintenance activities caused the release of about 700 pounds of hydrogen sulfide, benzene and other pollutants from a smokestack over several hours on Feb. 20, 2015.

The release occurred during stagnant weather conditions and more than 550 people were affected, some of whom sought medical attention, according to a news release Wednesday from the EPA’s Region 10.

In addition to the EPA penalty paid by the company, Shell also paid penalties of more than $420,000 to the Northwest Clean Air Agency and the Washington

Safety and Health Agency for violations related to the release, according to the EPA.

Joseph Williams, vice chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, said in an interview he was grateful the EPA pursued the case. He was at home when the release happened and remembered shutting his family inside the house when he smelled a sickening, hydrocarbon stink in the air.

“I found out pretty soon after, there were tribal members that were having ill effects due to inhaling those chemicals,” Williams said.

“I remember being home and smelling the air outside and I advised my wife to keep the young ones in the house. We basically just stayed indoors and tried to avoid being out as much as possible.”

The Shell and Tesoro oil refineries are located on March Point, historically the north end of the Swinomish Tribe’s reservation.

Health impacts from the 2015 event were significant, according to the tribe, including dizziness, coughing, throat irritation, nausea and gagging, lung and chest pains and more. More than 100 tribal members reported severe symptoms, according to the tribe.

Aiming to file your taxes soon for a speedy tax refund? Well, this year, you better step back a minute and first ask yourself, “Hey, how much money exactly did I get for that stimulus?”

And: “What about that second stimulus check? Did it ever show up?”

These are odd questions. After all, stimulus payments aren’t taxable at the federal level, but you are still going to need those exact numbers for the stimulus payouts to process your 2020 federal income tax return.

“The way our tax software works it assumes you did not get a stimulus check unless you tell it you did,” said George W. Smith, a CPA with Andrews Hooper Pavlik in Southfield, Mich.

And you’re going to need a dollar amount of that stimulus to plug into the tax software. It’s not just a yes or no question and then off we go.

Another clue: Everyone did not get the same stimulus payment, so no copying from your neighbor.

What is IRS Notice 1444 and why do I need it?

Smith said he’s noticed that clients who felt they were prepared to file in January but didn’t realize that the stimulus information is essential. And some had a hard time conveying information about what kind of stimulus checks they received or not in 2020 and 2021.

“Taxpayers should have received IRS Notice 1444 for the first Economic Impact Payment and received Notice 1444-B for the second EIP they received,” Smith said.

“I have yet to have a client give me these forms.”

The Internal Revenue Service will begin processing 2020 tax returns Friday. The season officially starts about two weeks later than last year, as the IRS said it needed more time to program and test its systems after the Dec. 27 tax law changes that provided a second round of Economic Impact Payments and other benefits.

This year’s tax season could trigger anything from a mild headache to a major migraine for many taxpayers, given the added complexities of a few new tax rules, massive unemployment during the pandemic, widespread ID theft and the one-twopunch stimulus program.

Just to name a few.

The stimulus itself might create a few hiccups for people who once dreamed that they’re now done with anything relating to the stimulus since they received their money.

So far, it’s fairly common among early tax filers that they don’t realize that they need information to confirm their stimulus payments, according to Matt Hetherwick, director of individual tax programs at the Accounting Aid Society, which offers free tax help to families and individuals with incomes of up to $57,000.

Hetherwick said it wasn’t communicated very well upfront that people needed to keep their paperwork and plan to provide that information to a tax professional when they filed a 2020 tax return.

“We recognized this as being a potential situation, so we prepared our staff to utilize various questions with taxpayers to obtain the information,” Hetherwick said.

“If the taxpayer is unable to confidently provide the accurate amount, then we share with them that they can request a transcript from the IRS that will provide the amount that was distributed by Treasury,” he said.

Will my stimulus payment be taxed?

If you received a stimulus payment, the money isn’t going to be taxed at the federal level.

Again, your tax software could ask that you run through some numbers to make sure that you got every dollar of stimulus that you deserved.

TurboTax said you will need to know the amounts of the first and second stimulus payment when you file.

If you received the full amount of the first and second stimulus payments, TurboTax notes, you don’t need to do anything, but if you didn’t receive a full payment, you may be eligible for more stimulus in the form of a Recovery Rebate Credit.

TaxSlayer also confirmed that its tax software asks for the exact amount of the two stimulus payments received to calculate whether a taxpayer is eligible for the Recovery Rebate Credit.

You’ll need to refer to Form 1444 and Form 1444-B to spot that specific number.

If you lost or threw those forms out, you might be able to double check the amount by researching your direct deposit information at the bank for your stimulus payment.

One taxpayer told me he was able to log into his bank account, search for the direct deposits, and he ended up finding the amount for the stimulus payments fairly easily.

Brittany Benson, senior tax research analyst, The Tax Institute at H&R Block, said even if you don’t receive, or didn’t keep a Notice 1444 for a stimulus payment, you should still enter the amount you received in advance payments to accurately calculate your recovery rebate credit. You can use an IRS online account and go to the “tax records” tab to see the amount of EIPs received.

The IRS suggests that you can check your IRS account online for the stimulus amount received, if you misplaced Form 1444 or Form 1444-B.

The IRS only began mailing out Form 1444-B for the second stimulus payments the first week of February. So there’s a shot that form will show up in the mail soon. Don’t throw it out.

Like anything involving taxes, it’s best not to guess or make up a number.

Who is running into problems?

If you do your own taxes, things might be pretty easy if you know you received a flat dollar amount, say $1,200 for a single person in 2020 and $600 for a single person in 2021.

A problem can come into play, though, because everyone did not get the exact same amount for their stimulus payments. The stimulus payment reflects your income, as well as how many children you have age 16 or younger.

You could easily receive more or less than those often quoted amounts.

The amount of the stimulus was reduced, for example, after you hit a certain income threshold.

What if I didn’t get a stimulus payment yet?

Some people who qualify did not receive an Economic Impact Payment last year or the latest stimulus payments in 2021 and they will need to file a 2020 tax return to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit.

Others know they qualified for a larger payment that was issued in the spring and summer but they never got the money.

You’d have to file a 2020 federal income tax return to claim that recovery re