Shell to spend $115 million on pollution control

Shell Oil has agreed to spend at least $115 million to cut harmful pollution at a Houston-area refinery.

The oil giant will also pay a $2.6 million civil penalty under the settlement announced Wednesday. Shell settled with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice after it was accused of violating the federal Clean Air Act.

Shell will install a $1 million system to monitor cancer-causing benzene levels along the fence line of its Deer Park facility. The data will be publicly available on a website.

It will also spend $100 million on technology to reduce air pollution from flares used to burn waste gases.

The EPA says in a statement the new technologies will significantly reduce harmful air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.