[StBernard] EPA Public Hearing and Request for Public Comment on Proposed Refinery Rules

[Westley Annis]

EPA Public Hearing and Request for Public Comment on Proposed Refinery Rules
 
Public comments submitted online may be anonymous.
 
 http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0682-0072
 
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EPA's Proposed Refinery Rules  Published in Federal Registry June 30th 2014.  Comments Due August 29 2014.
 
  https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/06/30/2014-12167/petroleum-refinery-sector-risk-and-technology-review-and-new-source-performance-standards

 Public hearing in Houston Texas on Tuesday August 5th 
 
 http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/petrefine/petrefwebinar20140617.pdf 
 
The proposed Refinery Rules address toxic air emissions from flares, storage tanks, Startup, Shutdown, and Malfunction (SSM activities), and coker units, and seeks to require fence line monitoring for Benzene. The proposal is a result of public participation through environmental groups, who demanded EPA perform its non discretionary job function to review standards of toxic air pollution, residual risk, and a technology review under the Clean Air Act as mandated by Congress.  http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/fenceline-communities-win-relief-in-oil-refinery-suit

UNFORTUNATELY, this action does NOT address emissions from coker units at Calcining operations…… only coker units at Petroleum Refineries!! To protect our health, we need upgraded pollution controls on ALL coker units.

It does however require fence line monitoring of air concentrations, including BENZENE, but only provides a rolling-annual average based on bi-weekly readings. Wouldn’t it be more efficient for the plants and more protective of our health if residents had access to the daily maximum benzene readings in our community? 
 
The proposal eliminates exemptions on emission limits during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction.  These exemptions have allowed refineries to emit toxic air emissions above the permit caps.  Discharges through pressure relief devices will be considered a violation. 

Submit Public Comments to EPA by August 29 2014. http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/petref.html 

Email A-and-R-Docket at epa.gov <mailto:A-and-R-Docket at epa.gov>  and include DOCKET ID NO. EPA HQ OAR 2010 0682 in the subject line
Or go online and follow the online instructions for submitting comments (Reference DOCKET ID NO. EPA HQ OAR 2010 0682   http://www.regulations.gov <http://www.regulations.gov/>       http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0682-0072

Over the weekend, one of the local petroleum refineries in St Bernard had been flaring with nasty odors for days and disturbing vibrations to houses and the nuisances of obnoxious noises, and the return of that mysterious "white dust". This was reportedly from shutting down multiple units over several days for a planned maintenance and turnaround. Are you tired from all the racket and feeling sick from the nasty odors? It doesn’t have to be this way. Demand upgraded control technology for your health, because no amount of fines will restore it.

http://grist.org/cities/decades-old-pollution-loophole-still-burns-the-poor-people-of-color/ 

""One of the excuses companies use is that their facilities release certain premature and post-operational emissions when they are firing up, shutting down, or when they break down. This is part of doing business, they say, so it shouldn’t count under the permit caps, even though it fouls up the air quality of the people who live near their facilities. Roughly three dozen states allow for this type of pollution under rules called “startup shutdown malfunction,” or SSM, by those who track this and who care about people’s health. It’s been going on for roughly four decades, and environmental justice groups want it stopped, like, yesterday.""
 
The Proposed Refinery Rules is a result of public participation through environmental groups, who demanded EPA perform its non discretionary job function to review standards of toxic air pollution, residual risk, and a technology review under the Clean Air Act as mandated by Congress.  http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/fenceline-communities-win-relief-in-oil-refinery-suit
 
EPA found through an Information Collection Request, that emissions were underestimated at petroleum refineries.  "About 150 oil refineries in 32 states self reported that they release at least 20,000 tons of hazardous air pollutants into communities each year, a toxic soup of poisonous chemicals like benzene, cyanide, and formaldehyde. These chemicals can cause cancer, breathing problems and smog.  Those emissions are vastly underreported by the industry, as shown by a new analysis of refinery emissions released on February 6 by the Environmental Integrity Project and recent studies at Marathon, Shell, and BP facilities in Texas. EPA’s rulemaking will finally have to address the emissions actually going into the air from flares, tanks, and other components at refineries, and the health impacts those emissions create."