[StBernard] Chalmette company denies it is source of gas that sickened Mississippi River ferry passengers Friday

[Westley Annis]

Chalmette company denies it is source of gas that sickened Mississippi 
River ferry passengers Friday
Mark Schleifstein, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Mark Schleifstein, 
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on December 22, 2012 at 1:25 PM, updated December 22, 2012 at 1:52 PM

A Chalmette industrial plant on Saturday denied that it was the source 
of a cloud of sulphur dioxide gas that hovered over the Mississippi 
River Friday evening and was blamed for complaints of eye and throat 
irritation by passengers aboard a ferry crossing the river below New 
Orleans.
Rain CII logo.png

On Friday night and Saturday morning, state Department of Quality 
officials said they suspected the toxic chemical was believed to be 
coming from a Rain CII petroleum coke processing plant in Chalmette, but 
a spokeswoman for the company said it was not the source of the gas.

"The Rain CII Chalmette plant restarted operations yesterday after a 
routine maintenance shutdown," said Rain CII spokeswoman Elizabeth 
Clouatre in a statement emailed to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. "The 
plant has been and continues operating under normal conditions since 
start up yesterday and there was no release from our facility.

"We are cooperating with the DEQ, Coast Guard and Fire Departement in 
their requests for information on this reported incident," the statement 
said. "We strive to operate our facilities in full compliance with all 
federal, state and local environmental permits. Rain CII is committed to 
safety and minimizing our ecological impact on surrounding communities, 
and the environment in general. We will continue to work with 
authorities to provide whatever information is needed regarding our 
operations."

"I talked to one of our air scientists in the region last night," said 
Rodney Mallett, spokesman for DEQ, in an email response this morning to 
requests for comment. "They are aware of a SO2 (sulphur dioxide) release 
today and suspect it is from the Rain facility.

"West Jefferson Hospital staff called the DEQ responder with questions 
regarding what the ferry captain and two others were allegedly exposed 
to," Mallett said. "We have contacted Rain CII and they will discuss the 
situation with the hospital."

According to a report on WVUE-TV Friday night, a DEQ spokesman said air 
quality tests showed the presence of sulphur dioxide.

The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office said it was called about 6 p.m. 
Friday by someone on the ferry, who reported the passengers' complaints 
and said there was a gray cloud sitting above the river. The ferry had 
been crossing the river from Algiers to Chalmette.

The ferry had resumed operations Saturday morning, according to the 
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development web site.

Louisiana State Police Trooper Melissa Matey said her agency was told a 
nearby chemical plant had been shut down for the past week, but began 
producing again Friday.

Rain CII officials have not responded to request for comments.

The Rain CII plant produces calcined petroleum coke by heating petroleum 
coke produced by oil refineries to remove contaminants so the 
carbon-based material can be turned into anodes for production of aluminum.

That process removes sulphur dioxide and other pollutants from the coke.

According to DEQ records, Rain CII was verbally granted a variance on 
Nov. 30 to increase the number of hours that a piece of equipment called 
a pyroscrubber stack was allowed to vent sulphur dioxide and other 
pollutants into the air at the company's Chalmette Coke Plant. According 
to an approval letter signed Dec. 5 by DEQ Assistant Secretary Sam 
Phillips confirming the earlier variance approval, the variance was 
required because of "another boiler tube rupture which has disabled the 
waste heat recovery system" that normally removed the pollutants.

However, the variance does not allow an increase in the allowed amount 
of sulphur dioxide that already was being emitted from the plant, which 
would have been 268.8 tons through Feb. 28, the end of the variance 
period, according to the letter.

Normally, the gas stream is vented through the plant's waste heat boiler 
or baghouse, both of which are pollution reduction processes. But the 
company also is allowed to use the Pyroscrubber Stack as a bypass for up 
to 500 hours a year during outages of the waste heat boiler or baghouse.

The variance would add to the bypass total by 336 hours, according to 
the DEQ variance.

"A variance does not authorize the maintenance of a nuisance or a danger 
to public health and safety," said the letter from Phillips.

A separate Rain CII facility in Gramercy was the site of a fire in June 
that forced the closure of River Road, Louisiana 44, for several days.

Stay with NOLA.com as more information becomes available.