Agency takes a closer look at St. Charles Parish oil refineries
If you happen to see a bucket, plastic bag and vacuum hanging from a fence in a neighbor’s yard, don’t be alarmed – it might just be someone taking an air sample for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade.
The Bucket Brigade introduced an EPA-approved, low-cost device that allows anyone to take independent air samples to check for air pollutants.
“The tool is simply a five-gallon bucket with a sturdy plastic bag inside and a hand-pumped vacuum on the lid,” Ann Rolfes, founding director of the organization, said. “It’s easy to use and suspect air is drawn into the bag, sealed in, and sent to a lab for testing.”
Rolfes says for years the bucket-gathered data has told a story that contrasts sharply with similar data of air samples submitted by oil refineries.
Right now, the organization is concerned about the number of flaring events that have occurred in St. Charles Parish over the past two years.
“After gathering data from the oil refineries in St. Charles Parish from 2005 through 2007, I decided to see what could be done to reduce the number of these flaring episodes the refineries call accidents,” Rolfes said. “I plan to organize all my data and facts and set up meetings with some of the plant officials to work out a plan to examine ways to reduce that number.”
Rolfes’ research reveals more than 100 unplanned flaring events at St. Charles Parish refineries between 2005 and 2007. An unplanned flaring event is one that is not planned or scheduled to occur. It is usually an emergency event that forces oil refineries to release chemicals into the air. Rolfes wants to make sure these kinds of events won’t harm residents.
“We haven’t completed reviewing all of the data yet,” she said. “What I’m working with now is mostly preliminary numbers taken from Valero and Motiva refineries. Shell reports no data, but I’m not sure why that is and I’ll be looking into it.”
In 2001 in New Sarpy, the Bucket Brigade’s results were used to force the first ever meeting between the CEO of Orion Refining and the New Sarpy Concerned Citizens (NSCC). Air samples exposed the company’s violation of the Louisiana state air standards, and videotapes of flares exposed Orion’s false statements to the press and to the community. Research of state records also exposed the company’s high accident rate – 40 accidents in 26 weeks.
All of this information was immediately sent to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency. A LDEQ /EPA investigation took place in February 2001.
In the spring of 2003, Orion went bankrupt. Valero Refining now operates Orion, calling it the St. Charles Refinery.
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