Excessive Volatile Organic Compounds in Air

Could Shell’s Ethane Cracker Erase Recent Gains in Air Quality?

From an Article by Reid Frazier, The Allegheny Front, September 9, 2016

Officials around the state are optimistic about the impact of Shell’s new ethane cracker on the local economy. It will bring thousands of construction jobs to western Pennsylvania and 600 permanent ones once it’s built along the Ohio River in Beaver County. The plant will produce 1.6 million tons of plastic a year out of the region’s natural gas.

But Jim Fabisiak, an environmental and occupational health professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is concerned about another impact on the area—how the facility could affect air quality.

Audio Stream in Original Article:

LISTEN: “How Shell’s Ethane Cracker Will Impact Air Quality”

At his office, Fabisiak pulls out a sheet of paper with a simple line graph on it. It shows the amount of industrial pollution in Beaver County for volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. These are a broad class of chemicals that help form ground-level ozone, or smog, which can exacerbate asthma and other lung problems.

“There’s a steady improvement,” Fabisiak says. “From 1999 to current, there’s been about a 50 percent reduction in VOCs released by industry over time. That’s significant progress in air quality.”

But beginning in 2016, the line on Fabisiak’s paper starts going up, and up, until the year 2021. That’s the year Shell’s ethane cracker is slated to come online in Beaver County.

“Adding the cracker to this point in time brings the levels greater than what we’ve seen in 1999,” Fabisiak says.

In fact, with a projected 522 tons of VOC emissions per year, the plant would be the largest source of VOC pollution in western Pennsylvania, according to the most recent data available in the EPA’s 2011 National Emissions Inventory. It would be the third largest source in the state, behind an oil refinery in Philadelphia and a styrofoam plant in Reading.

The next largest nearby VOC polluter is U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, with 336 tons. In addition, the cracker is classified as a major source of hazardous air pollutants like benzene and formaldehyde, which can cause cancer and other serious health problems.

Fabisiak says these emissions are a concern because Pittsburgh’s air already fails to meet federal standards for several pollutants—including ozone—and routinely ranks poorly in national air health surveys.

Because of these emissions, environmental groups are appealing the cracker’s air permit and asking the state to require Shell to install air monitors next to the plant.

But Shell and state officials say the cracker isn’t a threat to public health.

Mark Gorog, air quality program manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Southwest region, says since the Pittsburgh metro area doesn’t meet federal air standards, Shell has to install modern controls for pollutants like nitrogen oxides and install a leak detection system in the plant itself.

“Their emissions limitation has to be at least as stringent as the best [technology] out there,” Gorog says. “So the technology they install has to be the ‘latest and greatest.’”

In addition, the company had to show the PA-DEP that its plant wouldn’t make the air unhealthy in Beaver County.

“They modeled to show they will not cause an exceedance of [federal air standards], and they did a risk estimate for [hazardous air pollutants] that showed there was not going to be an undue risk to the public,” Gorog says.

On top of these measures, the company will buy more than 1,000 tons of pollution offsets to make up for the pollution that will come from its smokestacks, storage tanks and flares. These offsets are called Emissions Reduction Credits, or ERCs. They work kind of like a cap-and-trade system. The idea is that a company that wants to build a facility that would add pollution to an area, like Shell, pays other companies to clean up emissions at existing facilities. The way they do this in many states is by buying credits from a plant that is either closing or installing pollution controls.

Under state law, Shell is allowed to buy credits from plants that are already closed. The University of Pittsburgh’s Jim Fabisiak says this means pollution that’s been gone from the region will be coming back—in the form of emissions from Shell’s ethane cracker.

“I don’t see that as improving the air quality to any great extent. It’s like three steps forward 2.99 steps back,” Fabisiak says.

Workers are already preparing the site in Beaver County for Shell’s multi-billion dollar ethane cracker.

For instance, the company is buying 70 tons of credits from FirstEnergy for two coal-fired power plant units it closed in Armstrong County in 2012. It’s also buying 100 tons of credits from FirstEnergy’s closed Mitchell Power Station, which ceased operation in Washington County back in 2013.

Fabisiak says the best way for the system to work would be for Shell to buy credits for future cuts to pollution—from, say, a company investing in new pollution reductions at a power plant.

“If everyone’s still staying in the area and operating, that results in slow decreases in the amounts of emissions over time,” Fabisiak says.

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which approved Shell’s plan, doesn’t see a problem with how the pollution credit system is working. Under state law, closed facilities have 10 years to sell their emissions credits. The DEP’s Mark Gorog says new plants have to buy 15 percent more pollution credits than they will actually emit. So if Shell wants to emit 100 tons of pollution, it will have to buy credits for 115 tons.

“Over time, what the [ERC program] does is shrink the pool of emissions and bring the area into [federal air rules] attainment,” Gorog says.

This won’t happen overnight. Krishnan Ramamurthy, acting director of DEP’s Bureau of Air Quality, says its plans call for the region’s air to meet federal guidelines within five years. He says the emissions credit program actually helps them reach that goal by providing incentives for companies to clean up.

“The emissions reduction credits have a cash value. It’s supply and demand,” Ramamurthy says.

And if demand goes up—for example, if more companies want to build new plants alongside Shell’s facility—then the price of the emissions credits will go up too. And that could encourage companies to close or clean up older, dirtier plants.

“They can put additional controls to justify the control cost by selling some of their credits,” Ramamurthy says.

The U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works is one of the region’s biggest sources of VOC pollution with 336 tons of annual emissions. The ethane cracker’s 522 tons of projected VOC emissions would make it the largest source of VOC pollution in western Pennsylvania.

Currently, credits in Pennsylvania are reportedly selling for $2,000 to $10,000 a ton. That puts the price tag for Shell’s credits in the $2 to $10 million range.

In an emailed statement, Shell declined to say how much it spent on its emissions credits. But a company spokesman emphasized the plant was built on the site of the Horsehead zinc smelting plant, which had a heavy environmental footprint of its own. Some of Shell’s pollution credits actually came from that plant, which closed in 2014.

With or without Shell’s ethane cracker, DEP officials admit it won’t be easy for Pittsburgh to meet federal air standards in the future—especially after the EPA enacted stricter rules for ozone last year.

“It is working,” Gorog says. “There are areas being [cleaned up]. But part of the issue is EPA has ratcheted down limitations on [air pollution] over the years, so it’s kind of a moving target for us.”

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Majorsville Gas Processing Plant, Marshall County, WV near PA Border

PA-DEP says air emissions from gas drilling improve

From an Article by Laura Legere, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 3, 2014

Harrisburg, PA — Air pollutants emitted by Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry stayed relatively level in 2012 — and remained a small fraction of the state’s total emissions — despite more pipeline and processing companies being required to report information to the state, environmental regulators told an air quality advisory board on Thursday. The PA Department of Environmental Protection released the first tally of air emissions information from shale and other unconventional natural gas drilling and pipeline companies last year.

The new inventory added for the first time data from processing plants and compressor stations that handle gas from conventional wells. Because of the change, 30 more midstream companies that run compressor stations and processing plants — or a total of 70 companies — reported emissions information for 2012. Fifty-six unconventional drilling companies reported their emissions, one fewer than 2011. Operators of conventional wells were not required to report their emissions.

Despite the added facilities included in the report, 2012 emissions of nitrogen oxides declined slightly to 16,400 tons from 16,500 tons in 2011. Mike Rudawski of DEP’s bureau of air quality attributed the flat level to the fact that more emissions from compressor station engines canceled out a decline in emissions from fewer operating drilling rigs.

PA-DEP saw an increase in emissions of volatile organic compounds from 2,800 tons in 2011 to 4,000 tons in 2012. Most of that increase came from compressor station engines, as well as from pumps and equipment leaks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that volatile organic compounds “include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects.” Lung-damaging pollution is created by chemical reactions between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, especially during warmer times of the year.

“There are some significant emissions, as we expected when we decided to require the emission inventory,” Mr. Rudawski said during a meeting of the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee. But new emissions from the growing natural gas industry have been more than offset by overall emissions reductions statewide, some of which are attributable to an increased use of natural gas instead of coal to generate power.

Overall sulfur dioxide emissions were cut by nearly 590,000 tons per year during the four-year span between 2008 and 2012. That improvement was credited to better control equipment on power plants, as well as more plants converting to natural gas, PA-DEP said. Overall emissions of nitrogen oxides declined 53,000 tons during the four-year period and volatile organic compounds declined 1,300 tons.

Committee member H. James Sewell, environmental and regulatory team leader for Shell Appalachia, said operators have already submitted their 2013 emissions data to the state and his company’s tally showed continued improvement. “In 2013, we show a decrease in [nitrogen oxides] in our drill rigs because of the use of natural gas instead of diesel fuel,” he said.

Committee member Kevin Stewart, director of environmental health for the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic, said that although he was reassured to see the positive wintertime ozone data, he would like to see more detail on air pollution changes in the counties most affected by drilling.

“The inventory report is good for a broad look, but it is not designed to look at the kind of local exposures a particular household is getting immediately downwind, a few hundred yards from a facility,” he said. “Those are the kinds of things that also deserve the appropriate attention.”

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NOTE:  There are three important points of monumental significance here.  Firstly, Marcellus shale drilling and fracking for natural gas are very disruptive, inefficient and unsafe.  Secondly, the leaked methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas; and, the natural gas product when burned also produces a greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide). Thirdly, the nature and extent of Marcellus impacts in southwestern PA and northern WV can be seen so very clearly in the photo reports of the Marcellus-Shale.us web site here.  Above photo from:  www.Marcellus-Shale.us

Off Gases in Deep Valley Near Residences

WV-DEP issues air quality Notice of Violation to Jay-Bee Oil & Gas

Public Announcement from WV DEP via Email, March 2, 2014

The WV Department of Environmental Protection — Division of Air Quality has issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to Jay-Bee Oil & Gas Inc. for operating storage tanks on its Lisby Well Pad without the proper permits.

The natural gas drilling site is located in the Big Run area of Tyler County and the Lisby Pad includes four Marcellus wells that are in the initial production phase. Because six storage tanks at the site are used to collect natural gas liquids and can produce vapors, air quality permits are required.

The NOV, issued late Tuesday, requires Jay-Bee to provide dates when the tanks were installed and when each was put into operation; the amount of natural gas liquids produced at the site from commencement of operations until present; the potential emissions from all other sites not permitted by the DAQ; and a detailed explanation of the remedial measures taken to address the causes of non-compliance.

Inspectors from the WV-DEP’s Office of Oil and Gas and Division of Air Quality were dispatched to the Lisby Pad early Friday after receiving a complaint of a strong odor late the night before. The inspectors determined the likely cause of the odor was a nighttime inversion created by atmospheric conditions that trapped the gas vapors coming from the tanks. The WV-DEP worked with the operator to implement measures to decrease emissions. Also, the operator plans to implement a secondary recovery system on the tanks to capture the gas vapors.

The WV-DEP continues to monitor the situation and requested assistance from the agency’s Emergency Response section to monitor air quality at the site. The air monitoring equipment, which indicates the presence of volatile organics, detected no dangerous levels. Air monitoring equipment on site and mobile equipment operated by local emergency officials also detected no explosive levels – even last Thursday night when the odor was at its strongest.

To view the official order letter,  click here .

Contact: Kelley Gillenwater, WV-DEP, Charleston, WV