Concerned Citizens Around Murphy: sulfur dioxide levels make resident sick

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

sulfur dioxide levels make resident sick

The Ch_Vista Monitor on December 5 2011 recorded extremely high sulfur dioxide levels, well over the EPA health standard of 75 ppb. On December 5th, Chalmette Vista's hourly averaged sulfur dioxide levels from 9am to noon were 40 ppb, 135 ppb, 256 ppb, 38 ppb and then from 6pm to 7pm the sulfur levels were 239 ppb and 145 ppb. A Chalmette resident reported the emissions made her sick.

Incident 135699 EDMS document 8267114 Pages 36 and 37.
http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view.aspx?doc=8267114&ob=yes&child=yes

Yet, the DEQ inspection states both nearby industries, Rain CII Carbon and ExxonMobil Chalmette refinery, were operating within air permit limits (which is mostly likely true AND those permit limits should be lowered). However, the DEQ inspection does not include information from the plant operating logs to see what units were operating at that time. Were any operations bypassing pollution controls, even if within the permit limits? Were there malfunctions? What part of the processes is causing this?

We cannot solve this public health problem caused by the sulfur dixoide levels in Chalmette until the source is identified. Sulfur Dioxide levels continue to exceed the health standards, as shown in Air Quality readings In January 2012 from St. Bernard Parishes three air monitors .

Rain CII Carbon is a petroleum coke plant located adjacent to the Chalmette Vista neighborhood and in between the National Historical Park at Chalmette (Battle of New Orleans 1814) and ExxonMobil's Chalmette refinery. Rain CII operates on a variance which allows operational bypasses up to 500 hours annually. Rain CII recently applied for an additonal 350 hours bypass time to accomodate repairs and maintenance. The additional particulate matter discharges are estimated at 4.64 tons PM10.

http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view.aspx?doc=8262032&ob=yes&child=yes

http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view.aspx?doc=8262326&ob=yes&child=yes

http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view.aspx?doc=8227048&ob=yes&child=yes

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SOS St Bernard

The Port of New Orleans wants to change our quaint quiet neighborhoods into an industrial wasteland. There are more suitable locations and alternative regional options that would better serve Louisiana and our nation in international container terminaling. It doesn't take much imagination to picture what thousands of daily 18 wheeler trucks will do to the only two roads in St Bernard Parish, or how the increased rail traffic will contribute to the unacceptable night trains and lack of rail infrastructure. #SOStbernard https://www.facebook.com/SoStBernard/posts/pfbid0ytfGpvgfRVDxqyiKky76GUN8of7H3H4muajw91o75onZBFZ8ncZxdeUiyz7E53qel

We all need to do our part

_______ ________ ________ ______ Paraphrasing another Council member's comments on sulfur dioxide issue. Our community has made tremendous strides to get where we are today. We are the fastest growing parish in Louisiana. That accomplishment took a lot of effort from the federal, state and local governments. But the credit mostly belongs to our residents. Those who chose to return and rebuild, and to our new residents who believe that we have something special to offer. And we do. Since the construction of the main hurricane protection wall, the fear of a storm surge (like Katrina) has been minimalized. Our residents recently voted to fund our local government's take over management of the internal storm water system, and we are taking steps to improve our ability to handle major rain events. But one factor that is beyond our control that could have a devastating impact on our ability to grow, and retain residents, is the environment we live in. That's where the role of LDEQ and EPA is so important. You see, we are a RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY that happens to have a couple of industrial residents. I say that because I hold industry as accountable to our community as I do our residents. I hold EPA and the LDEQ to the same standards. We don't have the technology, nor the expertise to handle environmental matters on our own. We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that our community continues to grow and prosper, we just need EPA to do their part. A community that has economic development, but is losing residents, is not a community. That's not who we are. That's not where we want to go.

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?"

-- James Madison, Federalist #62

Public Participation

Public Participation

http://www.cleanwatershedcampaign.org/public-participation/

Over the years, this would be a familiar model of public participation. If
the panel was critical, its life was usually brief. Citizen oversight of one of
Michigan’s most powerful Fortune 500 companies would not be popular with
regulatory authorities, elected officials or more importantly, the Dow Chemical
Company......

Is this yet another exercise in futility or is it the finality so many of us
hope has arrived?

Do we participate in good faith? Eight years of Dow’s tactics of denial and
delay, eight years of frustration at the state’s impotence. Can the federal
government succeed? Can

the CAG succeed? Each individual active in this clean up will have to answer
these questions for themselves. I for one am not prepared to let any
opportunity to hold Dow and the EPA accountable slip away.

Terry Miller, Chairman Lone Tree Council

Land Use Plan Proposed

.

The St. Bernard Parish Government is proposing a new parish-wide Master Land Use Plan. Funding for this endeavor may be the Murphy Oil Crude Oil Spill "Cy Pres" Fund, according to the former Chairman of the Planning Commission. Councilmembers indicated they would have community meetings in each district for resident input and public information on the proposed changes to zoning and landuse throughout the parish.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/123449388/SBPG-Cy-Pres-Funds-Request-for-Master-Land-Use-Plan

Waste Not Want Not

The waste water treatment plant design requires flows to the ponds and canals which will never fully meet LPDES requirements. [*] This is a violation of the Clean Water Act.

AND, it's completely avoidable.

In fact, the permit does not require sampling of the waste flow from the waste treatment facilities (south of Judge Perez) to the conveyance ditch which feeds the ponds (north of Judge Perez). The only sample of this flow is after it has been diluted with the ponds and before it is discharged into the local canals.

The applicant should be prohibited from ever sending chemicals or waste waters to any of the canals. The permit should prohibit -- under any conditions -- ever sending waste flows north of Judge Perez to the earthen conveyance ditches, storm water ponds or basins interconnected to the ponds, because any chemicals and materials sent north of the waste treatment facility goes into our neighborhoods and sensitive Central Wetlands.

The permit should prohibit storage and treatment of wastes north of Judge Perez. Once the refinery wastes are sent to the Secondary stormwater basins or ponds, it is impossible to send it back for treatment, because, by that time, it is already mixed with the pond's water.

Even the smallest portion of wastes will have long term effects on the ecology system. (page 13 Vol. 1)

[*] Murphy Oil USA Inc. Solid Waste permit application for secondary storm water basins or "ponds" (not yet public noticed)

Vol 1 http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view.aspx?doc=7885455&ob=yes&child=yes

Vol 2 http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view.aspx?doc=7885902&ob=yes&child=yes

The ponds discharge into the local canals, which meander through neighborhoods before discharging in the sensitive Central Wetlands, Bayou Bienvenue, and Lake Bornge. The plan to prevent the refinery process campus from flooding is to release process campus storm water through the same route; if there is a backup of storm water on the process campus, it overflows onto residential streets. The requirement to maintain the ponds with adequate freeboard is sometimes met with similar discharges. The design of the waste treatment facilities, when it rains or malfunctions is to store the harmful chemicals and wastes in an unlined ditch within very close proximity to a Church which hosts vacation bible school for children. It is impossible to send all the contaminants back from the ponds to the waste treatment facility for treatment and all these wastes and chemicals are eventually discharged into our neighborhoods or released into our air.

And it's completely avoidable by segregating process water and waste streams from storm water and instead piping malfunctions and "emergency" discharges to storage tanks, treatment ponds on the river side (away from human inhabitants), or into the river itself.

Allowing storage and partial treatment of the wastes in the storm water ponds exposes our residents to harmful and carcinogenic chemicals. Discharges have a lasting effect on the estuaries and environment.

DEQ must consider alternatives to sending chemicals and wastes into the canals and alternatives to storage of chemicals and wastes north of Judge Perez.

UPDATE MARCH 2012
DEQ concluded (page 80) that by providing personal income for the facility's permanent and contract employees outweigh the environmental costs.
http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view.aspx?doc=8330751&ob=yes&child=yes

Public Meetings

Tuesday November 15, 2011 6:30pm

The monthly public meetings are open to the public and scheduled to convene on the third Tuesday of the month at the former Murphy Oil Administration Building, 1615 East Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette. .
*Updates on EPA Consent Decree Provisions
*Ambient air monitor station

http://lena.providenceeng.com/Default.aspx

The new air monitor on Ventura Drive in Chalmette samples our air for benzene, toluene, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and other chemicals. The monitoring results post on the public website: http://lena.providenceeng.com/Default.aspx

Murphy Oil has also provided computer access in the public library.

Preservation Priority

The Villere Plantation was listed as a War of 1812 Preservation Priority in the 2007 American Battlefield Protection Program Report to Congress. "The priorities indicate which sites, in the opinion of the National Park Service, merit immediate preservation action, which need ongoing preservation action, which require additional study, and which are best suited for commemoration rather than preservation."

http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/Rev1812_Final_Report.pdf

The recent EPA Consent Decree with Murphy Oil agreed to a conservation servitude for the Villere Plantation land area of the crop fields drainage machine. The conservation servitude unfortunately expires in approximately 7 to 10 years along with the consent decree.

http://concernedcitizensaroundmurphy.blogspot.com/2011/04/villere-plantation-ruins.html

FOREVER GREENSPACE
Read OUR VISION

Our neighborhoods will no longer be referred to as the Murphy Oil buyout area, but rather will remain residential properties of the Floral Estates, James Place, Despaux and Ventura, and Sandra Park Subdivisions in the community of Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana

The neighborhoods around Murphy Oil's Louisiana refinery in Meraux have been revitalized since as early as Fall 2005 and are a vibrant part of the Southeast Louisiana community of St Bernard Parish which has experienced rapid repopulation and rebuilding, due to the spirit and commitment of returning residents.

We want what any other St. Bernard Parish neighborhood would want; clean air, clean water, and uncontaminated soil; and for families and friends to live peaceful lives. As we restore our homes and revitalize our community we are preserving the integrity of our residential neighborhoods and improving our quality of life.

We join with our neighbors for neighborhoods to effect the ever changing decisions that empact our community by encouraging citizen particpation and providing advocacy for all residents who are committed to return, rebuild and remain in St Bernard Parish Louisiana

Read more here
Jacob Drive Firestation and Murphy Oil Refinery Expansion

A petition is being circulated asking the St. Bernard Parish Council and Administration to oppose the sale of the Jacob Drive Fire Station to Murphy Oil Meraux Refinery.

Comprehensive plans based on Fire Insurance Rating Determinations for the placement of Fire Stations throughout St Bernard Parish are paramount to both fire protection level and 'first responder' response time and should be the predominate factor in this decision. Because these determinations are not yet available since the August 28, 2007 fire rating review, Summary No. 2037 has been tabled since August 2007 (see item #15 on the Agenda 08/21/07 ).

Should the Jacob Drive Firestation ever be taken out of service, the property should not be sold to the Murphy Oil Meraux Refinery for Expansion of facilities.

Please join us in opposing this sale by signing the petition and contacting your council representative. Fire Protection Level and 'first responder' response time are a priority.

Remember, the house you save may be your own.

To sign the petition contact CCAMLA1@gmail.com or

download the petition atSAVE OUR FIRESTATION

Letter to LDEQ (Jan. 24, 2008)

Your time and attention to this ongoing sediment problem is appreciated.

To our knowledge those properties on Lena Drive South were never seeded. For the life of me I cant understand why they just wont plant grass already; or at least grass seeds or plant grass sodding on the curb side of the property (in accordance with local parish ordinances which no parsh compliance officer seems to want to enforce on this project). Regardless, your efforts within your jurisdiction should bring a solution that residents have been asking for since the summer; keep the mud out the street and especially out of the storm drains.

Please keep in mind that what the corporation terms a buyout zone, we call home. It is our neighborhood, revitalized since the flood and crude oil spill. It is not a construction zone and its not for sale. Its a subdivision and we expect this corporation and its employees to demonstrate the same level of respect to its new neighbors that it would want in their own hometowns (where ever that maybe).

Thankyou again.

CCAM and Rediscover District C