[StBernard] St. Bernard air quality improving, DEQ says, citing Rain CII plant work

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard air quality improving, DEQ says, citing Rain CII plant work
Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on December 17, 2013 at 8:15 PM, updated December 17, 2013 at 9:21 PM

About two weeks after the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
issued an air quality alert because St. Bernard Parish sulfur dioxide levels
were above the hourly federal health standard, a DEQ official praised a
Chalmette petroleum coke processing plant's efforts to curb emissions.

Sam Phillips, the assistant secretary in charge of permitting at the DEQ,
said the elevated levels of sulfur dioxide at Rain CII Carbon's plant had
dropped to about six instances in the past six months. In previous six-month
periods, about 65 overages were logged, Phillips said.

"They just needed to change the way they were operating," Phillips said of
the company. "And the good news is, six months into it, we have seen a
dramatic improvement."

The DEQ on Dec. 5, and again on Dec. 6, sent out notices stating that its
Chalmette monitoring station had "detected elevated readings of sulfur
dioxide (SO2) which have reached the Orange level on the Air Quality Index
(AQI)."

"According to the Environmental Protection Agency who sets most air quality
standards, being at the Orange level means that SO2 levels are unhealthy for
sensitive groups," the announcement continued. "People with asthma should
consider reducing exertion outdoors. If you are in this group of
individuals, please plan your outdoor activities accordingly."

In June, Rain CII signed a document with the DEQ that cut its permitted
sulfur dioxide levels in half, from about 2,500 pounds an hour to 1,200 an
hour. That agreement has required the company to complete a new
199-foot-tall waste heat boiler stack, which is now up and running. That
previous stack was 120 feet tall.

Rain CII officials admitted in March that the plant had been responsible for
"the lion's share" of the sulfur dioxide emissions in the parish during the
past several years. And on Tuesday, Rain CII President and CEO Gerry Sweeney
admitted that its Chalmette plant had contributed to the sulfur dioxide
overages earlier this month.

Sweeney also said that Rain CII requested bids earlier this month for a new
sulfur dioxide scrubber and that it expects to award that contract by the
middle of 2014.

"We think we have been going a long way, but again, no exceedances would be
better than the six we have had the last six months," Sweeney said.

He said the scrubber will be "capable of removing up to 90 percent of the
SO2" and that, with it, ""we will be able to ensure that we maintain the
compliance that is required under the new ambient air standard."

In February, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Ron
Curry informed Gov. Bobby Jindal that the EPA intended to formally designate
St. Bernard in violation of hourly sulfur dioxide emission standards adopted
in 2010. And, on Oct. 4, that non-attainment designation became official.

St. Bernard is one of only three parishes or counties in the United States -
and the only parish in Louisiana - that has received that designation from
the EPA for exceeding the federal hourly sulfur dioxide emission standard.

The Clean Air Act directs Louisiana to develop a plan within 18 months of
that Oct. 4 designation to show how the area will meet the sulfur dioxide
health standard and get into compliance no later than five years after the
designation was awarded. The EPA must sign off on the state's plan.

As a part of the state implementation plan, DEQ is expected to require other
changes, in addition to those agreed to in June, such as further decreasing
Rain CII's permitted SO2 levels.

Studies have shown a connection between short-term exposure to sulfur
dioxide and respiratory illnesses, particularly in "at-risk populations,"
including children, the elderly and people suffering from asthma, according
to the EPA.

In October, Jindal and Sweeney announced that Rain CII will be relocating
its corporate headquarters from Texas to St. Tammany Parish. The company had
moved its headquarters from left New Orleans to Texas after Hurricane
Katrina.

Rain CII is an international industrial carbon company that produces
calcined petroleum coke. an essential element in making aluminum. In
addition to its Chalmette plant, it has plants in Norco, Gramercy, Lake
Charles and Purvis, Miss., along with operations in India and China.