NEWS RELEASE
Community In-power & Development Association, Inc
& Refinery Reform Campaign Media Release
For immediate release
May 18, 2004

Contact:
Contact: Hilton Kelley, CIDA, Inc.:409-498-1088 or
Denny Larson, Refinery Reform: 415-845-4705

(Port Arthur, Texas) A local environmental justice group, the Community In-power & Development Association, Inc (CIDA) and National Refinery Reform Campaign (RRC) are challenging the Port Arthur Motiva Refinery Federal Permit (Title V). The groups have documented the refinery's continuing pattern of illegal upset emissions and TCEQ's failure to address compliance in the draft permit. TCEQ has granted a public hearing on the permit at the request of the groups on May 25, 2004, at the Port Arthur Public Library at 7:00 PM.

"The Motiva refinery continues have illegal upsets which send thousands of pounds of hazardous chemicals into the air of Westside neighborhoods," said Hilton Kelley of CIDA. " The TCEQ has failed to require a strict schedule to bring the refinery into compliance and therefore we are challenging the permit which allows them to continue to pollute us without end."

The permit challenge and local public hearing is apparently the first such action of its kind in recent history in Jefferson County, Texas, despite the fact that TCEQ issues and renews dozens of permits every month. The CIDA previously challenged a Premcor expansion permit in 2001 and demanded a public hearing. Internal TCEQ documents later revealed that the agency and Premcor thwarted the public right to know by scheming to amend the application with intent to avoid "public notice and hearings". The CIDA filed a civil rights complaint against the agency and Premcor which was accepted by the EPA office of Civil Rights and is still pending.

"The TCEQ has become a rubber stamp for illegal and health threatening permits being written for the benefit of polluters and not the public," said Denny Larson of the National Refinery Reform Campaign. "The Texas State Auditor's report last year confirmed some of the agency's failures, but we continue to seek a broader investigation by the US EPA and the Inspector General to stop the agency's abuse of power."

According to a review of Motiva's own reports to TCEQ, the refinery has suffered at least 18 excess emission events upsets including:

• 13 September 2003 - An underground line to Motiva tank no. 1475 ruptured and caused the spill of over 120,000 pounds of hexane, butane, and isopentane.
• 13 September 2003 - Later that day, a loss of electrical power to certain units led to an hydrocracker shutdown resulting in the release of 2,100 pounds of sulphur dioxide. A plant-wide power outage due to poor electrical connections caused the fluid catalytic cracker unit (FFCU) to shutdown. The FCCU pressure relief valves depressured to the alkylation flare and the FCCU flare, due to temporary power failure. Over 1,000 pounds of sulphur dioxide are released.
• October 2003 - Power failure results in emergency shutdown because of lack of back-up power systems at the refinery, resulting in over 24,000 pounds of sulphur dioxide being released to the air.
• 27 October 2003 - The FCCU shutdown when the combustion air blower tripped off, resulting in a flare off of over 5200 pounds of sulphur dioxide. The filter on the hydrocracking unit plugged, resulting in the unit depressuring to the flare. Over 1,100 pounds of sulphur dioxide were released to the air in just a 15 minute period.
• 6 December 2003 - The refinery lost vacuum on the vacuum tower and vented gases to the flare for over 3 hours, resulting in over 3,000 pounds of toxic chemicals being released.

The CIDA and RRC submitted detailed comments to the TCEQ on the Motiva federal operating permit earlier this year, including:

1. Motiva has a history of illegal excess emissions. Many of these events were the result of poor maintenance and inadequate management practices and, therefore, do not quality for an affirmative defense. Further, Motiva has been subject to enforcement action for the failure to notify the agency regarding upsets and the excess emissions caused by "upsets."
2. Motiva's Title V permit must include a compliance plan to assure compliance, due to this pattern of noncompliance with emission limitations,. Such plan should include a schedule with remedial steps to reduce the number of illegal emissions events at the facility.
3. Failure to Require Adequate Monitoring: Motiva's permit does not require monitoring sufficient to assure compliance as required by the Clean Air Act. For example, Motiva is not required to adequately monitor its flares.
4. Nuisance Conditions: Emissions from Motiva's facility, particularly emissions during flaring events, cause nuisance conditions for the surrounding community in violation of the Texas State Implementation Plan. The permit includes no monitoring or compliance certification requirement to assure compliance with this provision.

Following the May 25th public hearing in Port Arthur on Motiva's permit, CIDA and RRC will submit additional comments and if necessary seek a contested case hearing and other possible legal action to resolve the serious problems with the draft TCEQ permit.

The CIDA and the National Refinery Reform Campaign are also part of a Global Alliance of Shell Neighbors that attends the annual shareholder meeting of the Royal Dutch Shell corporation in London. Motiva is a joint venture of Shell and Saudi Aramco, operated by Shell managers. Hilton Kelley of the CIDA is also a Shell shareholder and plans to take community complaints directly to Shell's CEO and shareholders in London for the annual meeting June 28, 2004. The Refinery Reform Campaign coordinates a community and environmental performance review of Shell each year to present at the annual meeting along with groups from Africa, Asia, South America and other regions. The report and other material about Motiva and Shell's operations are available at a special website: www.shellfacts.com