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Kenai refinery part of $425M settlement 6 refineries, 5 belonging to Tesoro, part of Justice Department, EPA settlement; millions required for pollution control equipment LISA DEMER Alaska Dispatch News
Serious air pollution problems at six refineries including Tesoro Corp.’s Kenai facility in Alaska are being addressed through a $425 million settlement announced July 18 by the U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Tesoro and its subsidiaries operate five of the refineries in the settlement and used to run all six. The sixth one, in Kapolei, Hawaii, was sold in 2013 and is run by Par Hawaii Refining, the other corporation named in the settlement.
Under the agreement, which the public can comment on before it becomes finalized in court, the two companies must spend $403 million to install and operate pollution control equipment. In addition, Tesoro will spend $12 million on environmental projects in communities with a history of pollution impacts as well as paying $10.45 million in fines.
Efforts to reach Tesoro for comment July 18 were unsuccessful. Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre said Tesoro is considered a good operator and he wasn’t aware of air pollution issues at the refinery.
EPA has found problems at the various refineries that go back years and even decades, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Texas July 18, along with the settlement. The states of Alaska and Hawaii, as well as the Northwest Clean Air Agency, joined with the federal government to bring the complaint.
Two main problems at Kenai Two main pollution problems occurred at the Kenai plant, said John Keenan, a Clean Air Act enforcement officer with the EPA in Seattle.
First, the Kenai refinery was flaring - or burning - gases generated during the refinement process beyond what is allowed. In addition, refinery workers failed to analyze pumps, pipes and valves for leaks as frequently as required and, for part of the facility, failed to do the required checks at all, Keenan said.
Excess emissions from leaks, flares and other plant operations put toxins into the air that can cause cancer, birth defects and other health problems, and can seriously damage the environment, according to the EPA.
Flaring is a common technique for disposing of low-value gases but it results in emissions of sulfur dioxide, toxic air pollutants and greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Sulfur dioxide emissions can affect breathing and aggravate existing respiratory and heart diseases, according to the EPA. People with asthma, bronchitis or emphysema, as well as children and the elderly, are particularly sensitive. Sulfur dioxide also is a major contributor to acid rain, smog and haze.
Leaking vapors from valves and pumps pollute the air with volatile organic compounds. Emissions of volatile organic compounds can irritate the eye, nose and throat, cause headaches and nausea, bring about loss of coordination and damage the liver, kidneys and central nervous system, according to the government.
A refinery contains hundreds of miles of piping with innumerable valves and pumps. Operators are supposed to check the whole system, generally monthly, Keenan said.
Workers use a backpack-sized analyzer with a wand that sniffs equipment for vapors, Keenan said.
“The wand draws in ambient air, and they hold it up to the valve or other equipment,” he said.
The device reads the levels of compounds and spits out a number that the worker then must record.
“They do it 8,000 more times, then start all over again,” Keenan said. “It’s fairly labor-intensive.”
And it wasn’t done often enough, he said.
Work required on schedule That work now will be done on schedule, under the agreement, signed by Tesoro as well as the government. Tesoro also must install an infrared gas-imaging camera at four refineries, including the one in Kenai, that will help it zero in on “fugitive emissions” in real time, Keenan said. Tesoro will use the $100,000, next-generation cameras to locate vapor emissions, and then address any emissions found. But the big-ticket item in Kenai is $60 million for new equipment to reduce flaring, Keenan said.
Under the settlement, Tesoro must buy equipment that will allow it to capture, compress and make use of the low-value gases that normally are burned off. That compressed gas is a fuel that can then be used to help run the refinery, Keenan said. Tesoro won’t have to buy as much natural gas.
Tesoro will also have to repair smaller leaks than have been required in Kenai, under the agreement. Its enhanced leak detection program and its recovery of flare gas will significantly reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds such as cancer-causing benzene as well as greenhouse gases, according to the EPA.
Besides Kenai and Kapolei, other refineries at issue are in Martinez, California; Mandan, North Dakota; Anacortes, Washington; and Salt Lake City. In Contra Costa County, California, an area that has been impacted by other industrial pollution as well, Tesoro is expected to contribute $1 million toward the purchase of four school buses that run on compressed natural gas, a cleaner fuel than diesel.
The public will have 30 days to comment on the agreement through a process that will be posted on the Justice Department website.
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