Various Media Stories about 'Upset' Emissions
August 2005
Activists request all emissions be calculated
08/03/2005
By: RACHEL STONE
The Beaumont Enterprise
Port Arthur activists in Austin asked Tuesday for tougher restrictions on refineries and chemical companies that release hazardous emissions.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality conducted the first of four hearings on a rule change that would narrow some loopholes for "upset," or unpermitted, air emissions.
Under the current rules, certain upset emissions aren't calculated under companies' permitted emissions.
Emissions that are part of startup and shutdown activities are exempt from permitted emissions, said Luke Metzger, executive director of the Texas Public Interest Research Group.
When companies release emissions accidentally, they can use an affirmative defense, he said.
"All they have to do is say 'I did everything I could to prevent it, but it happened,' and then they don't have to be subjected to penalties," said Denny Larson of the National Refinery Reform Campaign.
Under the proposed rule change, companies could use an affirmative defense for all upset emissions, but none would be exempt, he said.
The rule change doesn't go far enough, said Hilton Kelley, founder of the Port Arthur-based Community In-Power and Development Association Inc.
He'd like to see companies fined for any emissions beyond their permits, he said.
"There's a lot of pollution that's being released that's not calculated," Kelley said.
Kelley and the association's assistant director, Tashiica Miles, testified before the TCEQ panel Tuesday.
More than 9.4 million pounds of hazardous emissions from 1,126 upset events were released in Port Arthur in 2004, according to a study based on TCEQ data that was released by watchdog group Public Citizen Tuesday.
The agency took disciplinary action in fewer than 75 of 7,500 upset emissions reported to the agency in 2004, the study found.
In Beaumont, upset emissions decreased from 36.7 million pounds per year in 2003 to 22.5 million in 2004, according to the TCEQ.
"The TCEQ has made major efforts in the past few years to reduce emissions from emission events, and we have achieved some major results," agency spokesman Terry Clawson stated in a media release.
Representatives from BASF Fina Petrochemical, Exxon-Mobil Corp., Motiva, Premcor Refining Group and Total did not returned calls seeking comment Tuesday.
Hearings also are set for Wednesday in Arlington, Thursday in the Houston City Council chambers at 901 Bagby St., and Friday in Corpus Christi.
rstone@beaumontenterprise.com
(409) 833-3311, ext. 450
The Beaumont Enterprise, 2005
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Closer eye on 'upset' emissions pushed
By JIM GETZ
The Dallas Morning News
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Public Citizen wants you to be upset about upsets.
The consumer advocacy group issued a report Tuesday finding that "upset"
emissions from industrial plants - those that occur during startups,
shutdowns, accidents, leaks or operator error - often release more air
pollution than the plants are permitted to release.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which is having public
hearings this week on such pollution, does not count upsets when it sets
emissions levels in air permits. The report looked at the Port Arthur and
Corpus Christi areas, but Public Citizen says such emissions happen around
the state.
"What this does, of course, is affect the children," said Suzie Canales
of Citizens for Environmental Justice in Corpus Christi. "It affects
their health, has an adverse impact on their studies."
In a written statement, commission spokesman Terry Clawson said the
agency "has made major efforts in the past few years to reduce emissions
from emission events, and we have achieved some major results. Reductions
from 2003 to 2004, in millions of pounds per year, Houston has gone from
36.7 to 22.5; Beaumont has gone from 16.9 to 9.5, Corpus Christi from 4.7
to 3.0. We believe these improvements will continue."
Beth O'Brien, the report's author, said that of 7,553 upset events
reported to the commission in 2004, less than 1 percent resulted in a
potential penalty.
Public Citizen's Texas director Tom "Smitty" Smith said, "D-FW is also
home to a number of power plants that start up and shut down with
frequency, and they're often far richer in terms of chemical composition
than would be permitted under normal circumstances."
The hearings this week, including one today in Arlington, cover rules
that would be included in the state's plan to clean air in areas such as
Dallas-Fort Worth.
E-mail jgetz@dallasnews.com
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Refineries may raise sick days
Study shows students miss more school
By TIM EATON
Scripps Howard Austin Bureau
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
August 3, 2005
AUSTIN - Students who live near refineries are absent from school more
often after some industrial emissions, an Austinbased advocacy group
reported in a study released Tuesday.
Public Citizen's report, "Industrial Upset Pollution: Who Pays the Price?
" is an analysis of health and financial effects of refinery emissions.
The study concentrated on Corpus Christi and Port Arthur and focused
largely on emissions that occur without permits - including those that
happen during startup, shutdown and maintenance operations.
Public Citizen State Director Tom "Smitty" Smith presented the study
that showed what he said was a statistically significant absentee rate at
schools near refineries. Most of the falling attendance rates he pointed
to occurred about three days after an upset event, which frequently can
be seen at refineries as flares that burn off excess gases.
Validity questioned
But Ben Sebree of the Texas Oil and Gas Association said the group's
conclusions based on absentee rates are not valid but might warrant some
consideration after scientifically controlled studies have been completed.
The report looked at the Valero and Flint Hills refineries in Corpus
Christi. Flint Hills spokesman Rich Tuttle could not be reached for
comment on Tuesday.
Valero spokesman Bob Grimes said the company had received the report
Tuesday and had not looked at it in great detail. But, Valero had some
immediate objections to the report.
"Upon our initial review, we do take serious issue with the
organization's attempt to correlate refinery upset events with
absenteeism rates at schools near our refineries. Not only is that bad
science, it is very unfair," Grimes said.
Grimes said a number of factors can go into school absences unrelated to
air emissions. Grimes said the company has invested some $60 million
dollars in back up systems alone "to reduce or eliminate unplanned
emission events."
According to the study, after an upset event at the Valero East refinery
on April 2, 2004, attendance rates at seven of nine schools near the
refinery fell at a rate that was statistically significant. On April 5,
at Miller High School, for example, the study reported an attendance rate
of 86.2 percent, down from an average rate of 89.8 percent. On the same
day, the Lamar Elementary School attendance rate dropped from an average
of 94.8 percent to 88.4 percent, according the Public Citizen report.
Sebree had not seen the numbers by Public Citizen but when told of them,
he questioned the group's conclusions.
"Who knows what else was going on at the time?" he said.
Pieces of the puzzle
In the text of the study, Public Citizen does not claim to have all the
facts. The study begins with an admission of being "far from the
definitive, final work on how unpermitted air emissions are endangering
many Texas communities and costing taxpayers additional health-related
expenses."
At a Public Citizen press conference Tuesday, Suzie Canales of Corpus
Christi's Citizens for Environmental Justice spoke of increased risk of
child and adult asthma around the refineries. She also said different
kinds of cancer are more likely in neighborhoods in the shadows of industry.
Smith and others at the press conference recommended better controls and
monitoring by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The Public
Citizen study coincided with TCEQ's collection of public testimony on
proposed changes to rules governing unpermitted emissions. A hearing is
set in Corpus Christi for 1 p.m. Friday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
University's Natural Resources Center Building at 6300 Ocean Drive, Rm.,
1003.
Contact Tim Eaton at (512) 3346642 or eatont@scripps.com
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Air Texans breathe being polluted by 'accidents'
08/03/2005
Anton Caputo
Staff Writer
San Antonio Express-News
The state is turning a blind eye as Texas refineries and industrial
plants spew millions of pounds of "accidental" pollution each year, a new
report charges.
The pollution is hitting the communities of Corpus Christi and Port
Arthur particularly hard, where refineries operated by San Antonio-based
Valero Energy Corp., Flint Hills Resources, Motiva Enterprises, BASF
Corp. and TOTAL Petrochemicals were cited as being among the biggest
offenders, according to the report by the Washington-based Public Citizen
advocacy group.
At issue are events called "upset pollution" -- theoretically unavoidable
incidents where facilities have to burn off chemicals, typically during
start-up, shutdown, maintenance or mechanical malfunction.
Such events aren't included in documents filed by the companies
estimating how much pollution they'll churn out in a year. But Public
Citizen found that some refineries produce more pollution during upset
events than during normal operation.
There were 7,533 upset events last year, but the state issued fines on
less than 1 percent.
"There is no deterrent against future violations," said Beth O'Brien, who
authored the report.
For example, during a six-day event in December 2003, the Valero West
refinery in Corpus Christi released 121,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide,
according to the report. That is almost one-third the sulfur dioxide the
refinery emitted during normal operation for all of 2003.
Valero officials didn't respond to calls requesting comment.
During a September 2004 event, Flint Hill's West refinery in Corpus
discharged 133,900 pounds of carbon monoxide during an upset event. That
is roughly equal to the carbon monoxide produced in a year by 232 cars.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is considering closing some
of the loopholes, but Denny Larson of the Refinery Reform Campaign said
the proposed changes don't close the largest.
Among them, he said the state does not require companies to include
scheduled start-ups and shut downs in their permits, and then only
requires corrective action plans for pollution events included in permits.
"The public is being sold a bill of goods," he said. "TCEQ is addressing
only those loopholes that don't really matter. They continue to let these
companies say, 'It was an accident, we tried the best we could to avoid it.'"
TCEQ spokesman Terry Clawson defended the agency.
"The TCEQ has made major efforts in the past few years to reduce
emissions from emission events, and we have achieved some major results,"
he said, pointing out that the overall pollution from such events in
Houston, Beaumont and Corpus Christi has declined from 2003 to 2004.
The state will hold a public hearing on the issue Friday in Corpus Christi.
Public Citizen focused on Corpus Christi in Nueces County and Port Arthur
in Jefferson County because of the prevalence of the petrochemical
industry in those areas.
By crunching numbers in the Environmental Protections Agency's 2002
Toxics Release Inventory, the environmental group concluded that those
two counties account for 15 percent of the carcinogens and 16 percent of
the neurotoxins released into the state's' air.
The report also documented an increase in the absentee rates at schools
near Corpus Christi's Valero East refinery after large upset events.
"While these figures do not prove direct causation between the events and
the subsequent decreases in attendance rates at the schools near the
Valero East refinery, they do show there is a statistical correlation
that warrants further study," the report said.
Corpus Christi resident Susie Canales, chairwoman of Citizens for
Environmental Justice, said she plans to present the findings to local
school officials.
"All of these are red flags that need to be heeded," she said. "Something
needs to be done."
acaputo@express-news.net
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