Valero Settlement Enriches Texas

Environmental Insider News, June 17, 2005

Under a federal consent decree signed on June 16, San Antonio based Valero Refining Co. Will make major upgrades totaling $700 million to its refineries in Texas and five other states. The company will also implement supplemental environmental projects in Texas that will total $5.5 million (not $11 million, as stated in press releases from TCEQ and the Texas Office of the Attorney General). Texas, as a signatory to the consent decree, will also receive $1.25 million in civil penalties (out of a total of $5.5 million assessed) and $50,000 in attorney fees. TCEQ Executive Director Glenn Shankle says the action will result in significant reductions in air emissions in Texas - almost 6,000 tpy of sulfur dioxide and 3,600 tpy of nitrogen oxides.

The settlement ends a lengthy investigation against Valero that was launched by EPA, TCEQ, the Texas Attorney General, and the states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Jersey, and California. The federal government alleged that Valero had violated the Clean Air Act by failing to abide by more rigorous environmental requirements, including installation of upgraded pollution control devices as it modernized its facilities over time.

Part of the settlement requires Valero to install these top-of-the-line technologies at all of the cited refineries. These changes, which will be undertaken at Valero installations in Corpus Christi (two refineries), Houston, Sunray, Texas City, and Three Rivers (plus various other locations), include upgrading leak detection and repair practices, implementing programs to minimize flaring of hazardous gases, reducing emissions from sulfur recovery plants, and adopting strategies to ensure the proper handling of benzene wastewater.

The Office of the Attorney General says that Valero will install emission-reduction technologies at its Corpus Christi East refinery to reduce up to 75,000 lb/y of SO2 and replace industrial seals plantwide at its Corpus Christi West refinery to significantly reduce hazardous benzene emissions. The company will offer assistance programs to local vehicle fleets at or near all six Texas refineries by introducing zero- or low-emitting vehicles or retrofitting older vehicles with new technology to reduce ozone pollution.

Those Lazy, Hazy Daze of Summer?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized new rules aimed at restoring clean air to the nation's national parks and wilderness areas - including Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park, both in West Texas. The Clean Air Visibility Rule will require Texas (and other states) to make a list, by 2008, of 26 categories of industrial facilities built between 1962 and 1977 that are releasing more than 250 tpy of visibility-impairing pollution and to determine appropriate (best available retrofit technology) controls for those facilities. State plans must be approved by EPA, and then there will be a 5-year window for implementation of pollution controls.

Depending upon the approach taken, reductions associated with the BART controls will begin to take effect in 2014, with full implementation due in 2018 (the same deadline as for fine particulate matter implementation plans). Some analysts claim that TCEQ could exclude power plants from the rule by allowing them to trade in pollution credits with power plants in eastern states. Under the rule, power plants that make deeper cuts than will be required may sell excess emission reductions to other power plants which find it cheaper and more convenient to buy credits than install controls.

Of course, power plants and other facilities in Mexico, which are significant contributors to haze in Big Bend (in particular), are not covered by the EPA rule - and there is as yet no trading program that would encompass emissions from the twin coal-fired power plants at Carbon. Sulfate haze accounts for 44% of the haze in Big Bend, followed by 40% from manmade dust and smoke particles and 16% from natural scattering by air. The largest contributor to sulfate haze in Big Bend (17%) is power plants in eastern U.S. states; Carbon and other Mexican sources account for 14%, while just 9% comes from Texas sources.

More TWDB Legislation

In this issue we will continue our report on bills of great interest to the Texas Water Development Board. There will be a few more to follow in upcoming issues. As of this writing, all of these bills are at the Governor's office - with just a few days until the deadline.

House Bill 1462 (Flores) would grant TWDB new authority to refer an applicant for or recipient of financial assistance to an outside state agency for investigation or initiation of an enforcement action. Under the bill, the Board, as a result of a complaint or on its own motion, could make referrals to TCEQ, the state auditor's office, the Texas Rangers, or other entities when evidence of possible wrongdoings come to light. The bill gives the executive administrator authority for referral, monitoring the progress of the ensuing investigation or enforcement action, and reporting to the Board on a quarterly basis.