Sierra Club requests that DNREC establish chronic violator regulations and designate the Delaware City Refinery as a chronic violator
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The Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club is very concerned about the frequency of violations of environmental permits and pollution releases at the Delaware City Refinery. Title 7 Delaware Code § 7904 provides the definitional requirements of chronic violator status for environmental permit-holders, yet DNREC has yet to establish such regulations. On July 30th we asked DNREC Secretary O’Mara to prioritize the establishment of regulations for the designation of chronic violator status, and designate the Delaware City Refinery as a chronic violator. We have not yet received a response to this request.
The Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club feels that that the Delaware City Refinery has earned the status of chronic violator. Since January 1, 2011 the Delaware City Refinery has been issued a Notice of Violations by DNREC eight times for air, solid waste and wastewater permit violations:
Date Served | Enforcement Number | Program | |
1 | 5/23/2012 | 2012-11628 | Air Program |
2 | 3/28/2012 | 2012-11601 | Air Program |
3 | 1/4/2012 | 2012-11557 | Solid Waste Landfill |
4 | 12/21/2011 | 2011-11558 | Air Program |
5 | 12/7/2011 | 2011-11631 | Wastewater (NPDES) |
6 | 11/14/2011 | 2011-11526 | Wastewater (NPDES) |
7 | 9/2/2011 | 2011-11513 | Air Program |
8 | 2/3/2011 | 2011-11447 | Solid Waste Landfill |
In addition, DNREC has released a Delaware Environmental Release Notification System (DERNS) alert for toxic releases by the Delaware City Refinery 39 times since January 1, 2011.
Date | Release ID | Substance Released | |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7/27/2012 | 14395 | Hydrogen Cyanide, Carbon Monoxide |
2 | 7/24/2012 | 14391 | Oil, Petroleum, N.O.S. |
3 | 7/10/2012 | 14387 | Sulfur Dioxide |
4 | 7/9/2012 | 14383 | Sulfur Dioxide |
5 | 7/5/2011 | 14377 | Sulfur Dioxide |
6 | 5/29/2011 | 14343 | Propylene |
7 | 5/7/2012 | 14326 | Sulfur Dioxide |
8 | 4/25/2012 | 14319 | Sulfur Dioxide |
9 | 4/4/2012 | 14297 | Sulfur Dioxide |
10 | 3/16/2012 | 14285 | Sulfur Dioxide |
11 | 3/12/2012 | 14282 | Gasoline Blending Stocks: Reformates |
12 | 2/13/2012 | 14252 | Sulfur Dioxide |
13 | 2/12/2012 | 14251 | Sulfur Dioxide |
14 | 2/6/2012 | 14247 | Sulfur Dioxide |
15 | 12/24/2011 | 14213 | Sulfur Dioxide |
16 | 12/22/2011 | 14211 | Sulfur Dioxide |
17 | 12/2/2011 | 14190 | Sulfur Dioxide |
18 | 11/27/2011 | 14185 | Carbon Monoxide, Hydrogen Sulfide, Hydrogen Cyanide, Sulfur Dioxide |
19 | 11/21/2011 | 14180 | Sulfur Dioxide |
20 | 11/17/2011 | 14174 | Sulfur Dioxide |
21 | 10/26/2011 | 14157 | Sulfur Dioxide |
22 | 10/14/2011 | 14152 | Sulfur Dioxide |
23 | 10/3/2011 | 14145 | Sulfur Dioxide |
24 | 9/30/2011 | 14136 | Sulfur Dioxide |
25 | 9/15/2011 | 14126 | Sulfur Dioxide |
26 | 9/9/2011 | 14122 | Sulfur Dioxide |
27 | 7/23/2011 | 14160 | Sulfur Dioxide |
28 | 7/15/2011 | 14159 | Sulfur Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide, Ammonia |
29 | 7/4/2011 | 14150 | Sulfur Dioxide |
30 | 6/17/2011 | 14136 | Hydrogen Cyanide, Carbonyl Sulfide |
31 | 6/12/2011 | 14130 | Crude Oil |
32 | 6/4/2011 | 14025 | Sulfur Dioxide |
33 | 6/3/2011 | 14024 | Sulfur Dioxide |
34 | 6/1/2011 | 14023 | Propane |
35 | 4/21/2011 | 13985 | Liquefied Natural Gas |
36 | 4/17/2011 | 13983 | Crude Oil |
37 | 3/3/2011 | 13960 | K171 Hydro Treating Catalyst |
38 | 1/25/2011 | 13939 | Catalyst Dust K171 |
39 | 1/19/2011 | 13932 | Catalyst Dust |
In addition to these permit violations and toxic releases, the Delaware City Refinery has been allowed to operate with antiquated intake screens that are doing irreparable damage to the Delaware River fishery on a daily basis in spite of corrective actions that could be taken to protect our resources from harm. This unrestricted fish impingement and entrainment is ongoing under a permit that expired a decade ago.
The extension of expired permits, continuous violation of permits, and releases of environmental pollutants threatens the health and livelihoods of Delawareans. The areas surrounding the Delaware City Refinery have already been determined by the Department of Public Health as having cancer rates much higher than the both the national and state averages.
DNREC has the authority to designate industries that engage in a pattern of willful neglect or reckless disregard of the permits or regulatory programs with “chronic violator” status. Given the recent and chronic permit violations and pollution releases by the Delaware City Refinery, it has earned the reputation as a chronic violator. Such a designation would enable stiffer penalties, decreasing the ability of the refinery to pollute as the cost of doing business. Penalty funds could be put to good use, including research into our cancer rates.
