Genuflecting to Big Oil

To greed, all of nature is insufficient  ---  Seneca


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/louisiana-wetlands-jindal_b_5162230.html

By Robert Kennedy Jr
Waterkeeper Alliance

Genuflecting to Big Oil's pressure, the industry's chief indentured servant, Governor Bobby Jindal, is leading an attempt to kill the suit by orchestrating the replacement of several members of the levee authority. Jindal's caper violates state laws that guarantee that body's political independence. Urged on by the Governor, crooked Legislators are currently advancing bills to undermine the levee board and retroactively kill the lawsuit. Louisiana is a classic corporate kleptocracy. There is no sunshine in Baton Rouge ; Like so many cockroaches Big Oil's state house sock puppets are working their mischief in the darkness with no accountability or public participation.

 

A Louisiana elected official once said "the flag of Texaco flies over the Louisiana State Capitol." Right now that flag is flapping in the face of every citizen. Tax-hating governor Jindall now wants to spend tens of millions of dollars of tax payer money to plug oil canals which companies are required by law to plug themselves. That money pales beside to the $50 billion cost of the state's Master Plan to protect the coast. Jindal's funding proposal caper will protect his oil industry patrons and stick the public with the bill: taxpayers will cover the costs of damage caused by oil companies.

 

A recent poll by the nonprofit, Restore Louisiana Now, found that 90 percent of state residents believe the oil and gas industry should pay it's fair share, and 75 percent believe the governor has no business shielding the oil and gas industry from the costs of its misbehavior.

As Seneca observed "To greed, all of nature is insufficient".

 

 

 

 

The above photo of Chalmette, LA's Val Reiss park in District C is the area inundated with one million gallons of crude oil when a storage tank ruptured in the aftermath of the floods from the failure of the Federal Levee system in 2005. 

 

We've come a long way thanks to the residents and to their civic association Rediscover District C; yet the same facility is still allowed to discharge oily waste water into our canals, which drain into the Central Wetlands shown in the photo.  About two weeks ago, a heavy rain event, not uncommon in our region, resulted in the treatment ponds being let open for over 30 hours of discharge into our canals!

And continued rain water runoff issue into another neighborhood canal.

 

Petcoke regulations

 

"The lion's share" of the sulfur dioxide nonattainment issue in Chalmette, Louisiana is said to be from the Rain CII coke plant, where petcoke is processed for the aluminum industry.

Petcoke is becoming more and more of an issue in the States. 

Time to get your regulatory guard up, America --- Mike G.

http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/04/14/why-isn-t-petcoke-regulated-public-health-threat

Petcoke is not just a health issue, however ................

Due to state and federal restrictions on burning petcoke that make it nearly impossible to sell domestically, most of it is sold overseas. California exports 128,000 barrels of petcoke every day, mostly to China, where it is burned as a fuel source for electricity.

Both the California state government and the federal government officially consider petcoke a “byproduct,” not a waste product, so California’s emissions laws don’t apply to these overseas sales. That means companies in the business of refining oil can sell their petcoke to China without ever having to account for the greenhouse gas emissions, even though burning petcoke releases 5-10% more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere than burning coal.

emergency flaring

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202163016609750


Valero Energy reports "the management at the Valero Meraux plant reports the refinery was in normal operations", not aware of any operating conditions related to noise, did receive calls related to smoke, but not noise.

another spill

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/22/oil-barge-galveston_n_5015405.html

 

 

 

spill

this is where i spend my day
sometimes looking for food
or for frolic and play
the water is so dark now
i cannot see a thing
i am so hungry
i cannot move my wings
what happened to
my homeland
where i live and breed
what will happen to
the fish
upon whom i feed
i am feeling so tired
i cannot lift my head
in this muck and this mire
i do not want to be dead. 

2 Million Public Comments

Interesting illumination of 2 Million Public Comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDq4sG-9B3I

"

"Our children and grandchildren can learn about you as the leader who helped turn the tide, or the one who turned his back on them."

 

 

 

and reference to James Hansen comment clarified

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3IjwveMoqo

 

….. if we’re going to now open up this other source – unconventional fossil fuels –  the science tells us we cant do that….

 if we think we can use that unconventional fossil fuels ……  the world is just ignoring the science……..

this is game over,  if you don’t understand that we have to leave that extremely large amount of carbon in the ground

wide load delivery on east highway

 

 

is this for another expansion? or for the gas liquids recovery? we may never know

http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view.aspx?doc=9202229&ob=yes&child=yes

Residentially used property and PAH pollution modeling

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.