Permit for Chevron Pascagoula Refinery would allow more pollution

It is very difficult to understand what Chevron is asking for in its latest request for a state pollution permit.

The wording in the document is prohibitive. Even people in the business had trouble explaining it to the media, before a hearing on the permit Thursday.

That was part of the complaint by a group of citizens who live closest to the Chevron Pascagoula Refinery, they can’t figure out how much more pollution they will be exposed to if the state grants the permit.

The state Department of Environmental Quality held the public hearing Thursday night at the Pascagoula Senior Center as the final step in the process of collecting input to help them make a decision.

Harry Wilson, chief of the DEQ Permits Division, said they would keep the hearing open as long as it took to hear what people in the community had to say about the request. But part of the problem was the people didn’t understand exactly what they were commenting on.

It did appear — even though the refinery document mentioned the opposite — that the refinery’s air pollution would increase by 170 tons for chemicals including nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, benzene, cyanide, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide. It would increase the amount of methane and carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases, by 357,400 tons.

Yes, tons of chemicals dispersed into the air over a year’s time.

“They’re saying a reduction, but it depends on how you read it,” said Howard Page, an advocate for the Cherokee subdivision. “because according to the chart, there are quite a few tons of increase.”

He said the citizens, who already are said to be exposed to 2 million tons of air pollution a year from seven nearby industries, are bombarded, sick and leery of being exposed to more.

Refinery spokesman Alan Sudduth told the Sun Herald that the refinery is replacing a reactor, making an area of the refinery more efficient and able to produce longer between shutdowns. Extending production time means adding to pollution, but he said the plant is a relatively small portion of the refinery and that the added emissions would not cause exceed the overall level of pollution permitted by the state.

Jennifer Crosslin, another advocate for the neighborhood, lamented that the DEQ did not take into consideration the health of the neighborhood when setting pollution limits.

She said she understands that DEQ is not a public health agency, and Chevron is allowed to make increases “as long as it stays within the rules, but what does 2 million tons a year do to a community?”

Wilson said the federal government takes into consideration the weak, the elderly and those with breathing problems when setting standards for acceptable levels of air pollution.

Crosslin and Page are with the STEPS Coalition.

The group said they got little warning about this permit and asked the DEQ to extend the comment period by two weeks. The refinery’s request for a change in pollution levels was announced to the public on Dec. 28, during the holidays, when people aren’t as likely to be watching, and at least one resident said she didn’t received a notice, as she was promised.

Wilson said they would consider an extension.

This story was originally published February 10, 2017 at 8:22 AM with the headline "Permit for Chevron Pascagoula Refinery would allow more pollution."