http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071123/NEWS/711230349/1006/NEWS
…”Federal law regulates nitrates as a toxic pollutant, and the
“Permit mandated for Valero scrubber
Coastal Zone Act applies, regulators say
By JEFF MONTGOMERY, The News Journal
Posted Friday,
State regulators will require a Coastal Zone Act permit for a major Delaware City Refinery pollution control plan, in a case likely to highlight conflicting pressures to control industrial air and water emissions.
Valero Energy proposed the new nitrogen oxide scrubbing unit after environmental officials sanctioned the company for a sharp increase in the smog-forming emissions in 2002.
The company's solution would capture about 700 tons of nitrogen oxides yearly in a smokestack "scrubber." But wastes from the scrubber would add about 152 tons of nitrates to the refinery's wastewater discharges each year.
Federal law regulates nitrates as a toxic pollutant, and the
Alan Muller, who directs the environmental group Green Delaware, urged the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to require a hearing for the plan, saying that he opposed "turning air pollution into water pollution."
Company officials said the extra water releases would cause no harm during the company's initial request for clearance under the state's Coastal Zone conservation law. Coastal Zone rules require new industrial projects to include provisions that cancel out more pollution than any new projects will create.
Valero's current wastewater-treatment plant permit expired in 2002, Muller pointed out, and already has been criticized as too lenient. A separate debate is under way over the need for costly new cooling-water controls at the plant to replace a system that now kills millions of fish yearly.
The permit requirement can be appealed to the state's Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board.
The Delaware City Refinery can process up to 191,000 barrels of crude oil daily, along with additional amounts of partially refined oils. Company officials said nitrogen oxide emissions jumped at the refinery after managers made state-mandated changes to a major refining unit to reduce carbon monoxide pollution.
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