Flint Hills Resources in Port Arthur experienced an emissions event after a pump fire late last month.

A portion of the affected unit was shut down and repairs are underway.

The incident happened around 4 p.m. Feb. 27 at the facility, located at 4241 Savannah Ave. According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, operations personnel noticed a fire on the pump, which caused an upset of the light olefins unit resulting in the routing of process gases to the LOU flare.

During this event, the LOU flare was seen to be intermittently smoking. The cause of the fire is unknown and FHR is conducting an internal investigation to identify the root cause of the incident.

Claire Jackson, regional manager of public affairs at FHR, said the cause of the fire was a pump leak that was isolated and extinguished that evening. There were no FHR employee injuries with the fire.

An emergency contractor responding to the incident sought medical evaluation and returned to work the next shift, she said.

As part of the start-up procedures, Flint Hills Resources will post a Southeast Texas Alert Network message to let the community know of the flaring activity over the next few days.

Flint Hills Resources Port Arthur has reduced its unplanned reportable emission events by 72 percent from 2013 to 2017, according to information from the company. They have invested more than $100 million to increase reliability, lower emissions and help improve air quality.