No Neighborhood should be expected to endure industrial levels of exposure.
St. Bernard Parish is already disproportionately burdened with pollution that could be reduced with the installation of control technology.
Jacob Drive is a residential street in a pedestrian friendly neighborhood just blocks away from the community's only high school. It is not uncommon for children to play, ride bikes, or walk together with adults, including walking along Jacob Drive. Jacob Drive is a school bus route, as is East St Bernard Highway at Jacob. Jacob Drive is home to family, occupied dwellings and is adjacent to the dozens of family homes and apartments on Despaux Drive. Many residents dwell in the family orientated trailer park just across the highway.
Jacob Drive is "off property"; it is NOT part of the industrial plant. The plant "fenceline" is well East of Jacob Drive, East of the municipal storm water canal, and even further east than the pipeline easement now used for parking. The plant "fenceline" is East of this parking area. So, even the parking area is "off property".
A recently published pollution dispersion report shows the PAH emission in our neighborhood. Any modeling results for Jacob Drive should be considered
off property and in an area where long term exposure to emissions is reasonably anticipated. It is the opinion of concerned citizens that more modeling is required, because the modeling results demonstrated greater than or equal to 75% of the standard at several off property receptors, with some results in the 90 percentage.
To protect public health, Louisiana DEQ must require this next step and Valero Energy should be a good neighbor and provide for it.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (
PAHs), also known as
poly-aromatic hydrocarbons or
polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, are potent atmospheric pollutants. Some compounds have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. Naphthalene is the simplest example of a PAH. PAHs occur in oil, coal, and tar deposits, and are produced as byproducts of fuel burning (whether fossil fuel or biomass).(Wikipedia)
This house is adjacent to the area on Jacob Drive where model results exceeded 75% of the standard, also shown in a blue circle area in Figure 7 below.
Below in Figure 7, the area shown in the blue circle on Jacob Drive is adjacent to occupied homes and has some results in the 90 percentage range.
page 17 of 19 in report
http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view.aspx?doc=9208691&ob=yes&child=yes
Other houses are adjacent to this "blue circle" area, and the pollutants do not magically stop at the circle.
