WEST BOUNTIFUL — HollyFrontier Corp. unveiled a new plan Thursday to produce Tier 3 gas at its Woods Cross Refinery, a move clean air advocates say is a major win for Utah.
“We want to do our part in helping to ensure that we have clean air now and well into the future,” Scott White, vice president and refinery manager, said. “All of our employees, myself, my family included, we all breathe the same air that everyone else does.”
Referring to a designation established by the EPA during the Obama administration, Tier 3 set new standards for vehicle emissions and substantially cuts sulfur levels in gasoline. According to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, the new gas reduces emissions by up to 80% for cars made after 2017, and 12% for older models.
“That’s like taking 4 out of 5 cars off the road,” Gov. Gary Herbert said in a prepared statement. “We’re grateful to HollyFrontier for investing in Utah’s air quality.”
“The largest contributor to our air quality problem is mobile sources — vehicles. When coupled with a Tier 3 car, the fuels that will be produced at HollyFrontier’s Woods Cross Refinery will reduce these mobile emissions,” Herbert said.
In roughly six months, HollyFrontier will join Marathon, Chevron and Silver Eagle as the fourth Utah refinery to produce Tier 3 gas.
“That’s all contingent upon us being able to get our contractor workforce back in the plant, with COVID-19 that’s a challenge right now,” White said. “But assuming we can get people back in here by June, we’re looking to be able to start producing Tier 3 quality gasoline for the greater Wasatch valley in roughly six months.”
The move has drawn praise from the state’s lawmakers and environmental groups who have been pushing to bring the cleaner gas to Utah for years, including House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, who tweeted out his support for HollyFrontier on Thursday.
“I am quite happy,” said Thom Carter, executive director of the Utah Clean Air Partnership. “The more production of Tier 3 in Utah, the better it is for air quality, period.”
Carter said the announcement is an important step toward his organization’s vision of the cleaner fuel becoming the standard option at Utah’s gas stations.
“If we can get closer to every retailer having it, that’s what we want,” he said. “That way we can drive down emissions as quickly as possible.”
In an emailed statement, Carly Ferro, director of the Utah Sierra Club, told the Deseret News: “While we commend HollyFrontier’s move to produce Tier 3 fuel — one of the last refineries in Utah to do so — we remain disappointed in the passage of this year’s SB239, which rewards industry for their purposeful delay in implementing the proven solutions that would build a healthier future for Utahns.”
HollyFrontier and Big West, the two refining companies currently not producing Tier 3 gas, were beneficiaries of SB239, which extended a sales tax exemption as an incentive for refineries to make the switch. As long as the refineries reported progress on the investment, they would be eligible for the exemption until the end of 2024.
The bill received criticism from environmental groups like HEAL Utah and the Utah Sierra Club that decried it as vague and accused lawmakers of rewarding refineries for not making the switch sooner.
But White said HollyFrontier was gearing up to produce Tier 3 gas before SB239 was even introduced.
“We certainly are supportive of the Legislature and the governor’s efforts to improve the quality of the air, and if that bill helps others to make that decision, we’re supportive of that,” White said.
“But for us personally, we were already headed down this path ... our announcement just happened to line up with that bill’s timing.”
Six gas station companies — Sinclair, Speedway, Chevron, Exxon, Texaco and Shell — currently offer Tier 3 gas in Utah. In January, state Rep. Suzanne Harrison, D-Sandy, launched tier3gas.org, a website that shows Utahns where to find the fuel.