The Department of Justice announced today that Shell Oil has agreed to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at a large refinery and chemical plant in Deer Park suburb of Houston, Texas by spending at least $115 million to control harmful air pollution from industrial flares and other processes. Shell will also pay a $2.6 million civil penalty as part of the peal deal.
Moreover, Shell will spend $1 million on a “state-of-the-art” system to monitor benzene levels of the refinery and chemical plant near a residential neighborhood and school and make the data available to the public through a website. Shell’s agreement to recover and recycle waste gases at its chemical plant is a first of its kind.
Shell, headquartered in Houston, processes approximately 330,000 barrels per day of crude oil at its Deer Park facility, making it the 11th largest refinery in the United States. In addition, the Deer Park chemical plant produces approximately 8,000 tons per day of products that include ethylene, benzene, toluene, xylene, phenol, and acetone. Both the chemical plant and the refinery operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
AutoInformed says if you plan to spend time outdoors, check the Air Quality Index (AQI) for your location. If the air quality is unhealthy, try to reduce the time you spend outside.
Shell will spend $100 million on technology to reduce harmful air pollution from industrial flares, devices used to burn waste gases. Under the consent decree in the Southern District Court of Texas, Shell is required to take the following actions to improve flaring operations. This means in practice minimizing flaring by recovering and recycling waste gases, which may then be re-used by Shell as a fuel or product, and complying with limitations on how much waste gas can be burned in a flare. Shell must also install and operate instruments and monitoring systems to ensure that gases that are sent to flares are burned with 98% efficiency.
Once fully implemented, the pollution controls required will reduce harmful air emissions of sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including benzene, and other hazardous air pollutants by an estimated 4,550 tons or more per year. These controls will also reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by approximately 260,000 tons per year.
“The innovative emission controls required by today’s settlement will cut harmful air pollution in communities near Houston,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This case is part of EPA’s nationwide enforcement effort to protect fenceline neighborhoods by significantly reducing toxic pollution from flares and making information about pollution quickly available to affected communities.”
The settlement was filed at the same time DOJ filed a complaint on behalf of EPA alleging, among other things, that the company improperly operated its 12 steam-assisted flaring devices in such a way that excess VOCs, including benzene and other hazardous air pollutants, were emitted.
In addition to reducing pollution from flares, Shell will modify its wastewater treatment plant; replace and repair tanks as necessary; inspect tanks biweekly with an infrared camera to better identify potential integrity problems that may lead to leaks; and implement enhanced monitoring and repair practices at the benzene production unit. When fully implemented, these specific projects are estimated to cost between $15 and $60 million.
Shell will spend $200,000 on retrofit technology to reduce diesel emissions from government-owned vehicles, which operate in the vicinity of the Deer Park complex.
These actions it is claimed will cut emissions of pollutants that can cause significant harm to public health. Exposure to high concentrations of sulfur dioxide can affect breathing and aggravate existing respiratory and cardiovascular disease. VOCs are a key component in the formation of smog or ground-level ozone, a pollutant that irritates the lungs, exacerbates diseases such as asthma, and can increase susceptibility to respiratory illnesses, such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Chronic exposure to benzene, which EPA classifies as a carcinogen, can cause numerous health impacts, including leukemia and adverse reproductive effects in women.
Today’s settlement is part of EPA’s national effort to reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants, with a particular focus on industrial flares. These requirements focus on reducing the amount of waste gas sent to flares and on improving flare operations, both of which work to reduce toxic emissions.
Improper operation of an industrial flare can send hundreds of tons of hazardous air pollutants into the air. The more waste gas a company sends to a flare, the more pollution occurs. The less efficient a flare is in burning waste gas, the more pollution occurs. EPA wants companies to flare less, and when they do flare, to fully burn the harmful chemicals found in the waste gas.
