Groups Also Submit Petition to EPA to Demand National Pollution Limits for Petroleum Coke (“Petcoke”) Calciners
New Orleans – Three environmental groups today filed notices of intent to sue three petroleum waste processing plants in Louisiana for discharging toxic water pollution including lead, mercury, vanadium, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s) into the Calcasieu River, the Mississippi, and Big Bend Swamp.
The Environmental Integrity Project, Healthy Gulf, and Micah 6:8 Mission were also joined by a coalition of a dozen organizations that filed a petition with the EPA demanding national water pollution standards for petroleum coke processing plants across the U.S., which take a waste product of oil and superheat it into a carbon-dense coal-like substance (“petcoke”) used in metals manufacturing.
There are 13 petcoke processing plants across the U.S., seven in Louisiana and two in Texas. The plants were built between 1935 and 1983, lack modern air and water pollution controls, and are among the leading sources of air and water pollution in their regions. Many are located in communities that are disproportionately low-income or people of color.
“Petcoke processing plants have effectively been given a free pass to pollute our waters for the last forty years,” said Meg Parish, Senior Attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) Clean Water Program. “That needs to end. Petcoke plants must stop discharging toxics without permit authorization and EPA needs to create national pollution limits to reduce the toxic water pollution this industry is discharging across the U.S.”
Petcoke processing plants have slipped through the Clean Water Act’s protections, as documented in EIP’s report in July, “The Long Shadow of Oil Refinery Waste: Petroleum Coke’s Polluting Role in U.S. Industry.” EPA never established national water pollution limits (called “effluent limitation guidelines”) for the industry and states have not filled in the gap. The result is extraordinarily weak water pollution permits that do not limit toxic pollution from the plants nor protect waters like the Calcasieu River or the people that use them.
“For too long, petcoke processing plants have been allowed to pollute our waters with virtually no accountability, threatening the health and livelihoods of communities that rely on clean water,” said Andrew Whitehurst, Water Programs Director at Healthy Gulf. “These plants dump toxic heavy metals into our rivers and swamps without proper permits or oversight. We’re calling on LDEQ to better protect our waterways and hold these facilities accountable for the pollution they discharge, and for the EPA to act now and create national pollution limits for petcoke plants. It’s time to close this dangerous loophole that endangers both Gulf ecosystems and the people who live here.”
Cynthia P. Robertson, Executive Director of the Micah 6:8 Mission, an environmental justice organization based in southwest Louisiana, said: “The waters of our lakes, rivers, and bayous are not safe for swimming or eating fish from because of the petcoke processing plants in Calcasieu Parish. We need to stop letting these facilities add to the poison in our waters.”
Notices of intent to sue were sent to the Rain CII Gramercy Coke Plant in Saint James Parish, which discharges pollution into the Blind River Swamp and Mississippi River; the Rain CII Lake Charles Calcining Plant, which discharges into the Calcasieu River; and the Alcoa Reynolds Metals Lake Charles Carbon Plant, which also dumps into the Calcasieu River.
Under the federal Clean Water Act, plaintiffs are required to send a notice to the defendant and state and federal regulators 30 days before filing a federal lawsuit. The notice sent today says that Alcoa and Rain CII are illegally discharging lead, mercury, nickel, vanadium, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into waterways and that the companies failed to report discharging these pollutants in their Clean Water Act permit applications. The notices also include links to the companies’ own EPA Toxic Release Inventory forms showing the discharges of these pollutants.
The petition to EPA is brought under a section of the Clean Water Act that requires EPA to identify industrial categories without national pollution limits and then, within three years, establish those limits. The groups sending the petition to EPA are Environmental Integrity Project, Center for Biological Diversity, Clean Water Action, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Food & Water Watch, Habitat Recovery Project, Healthy Gulf, Micah Six Eight Mission, RESTORE, Three Rivers Waterkeeper, Vessel Project of Louisiana, and Waterkeeper Alliance.
For a copy of the petition, click here.
For a copy of the notices of intent to sue, click here, here, and here.
This is a list of the currently operating petcoke processing plants (calciners) in the U.S:
- Rain CII Chalmette Calcining Plant, Chalmette, LA (St. Bernard Parish)
- Rain CII Gramercy Coke Plant, Gramercy LA, (St. James Parish)
- Rain CII Lake Charles Calcining Plant, Sulphur LA (Calcasieu Parish)
- Rain CII Norco Coke Plant, Norco, LA (St. Charles Parish)
- Rain CII Robinson Calcining Plant, Robinson, IL (Crawford County)
- Rain CII Purvis Calcining Plant, Purvis, MS (Lamar County)
- Oxbow Baton Rouge Calcining Plant, Baton Rouge, LA (East Baton Rouge Parish)
- Oxbow Port Arthur Calcining Plant A & B, Pt. Arthur TX (Jefferson County)
- Oxbow Kremlin Calcining Plant, Kremlin, OK (Garfield County)
- Seadrift Coke Plant, Port Lavaca TX (Calhoun County)
- Reynolds Lake Charles Carbon Plant (Alcoa), Lake Charles LA (Calcasieu Parish)
- BP Cherry Point #1, 2, 3, Blaine, WA (Whatcom County)
- Conoco Phillips, Lake Charles, LA (Calcasieu Parish)
The Environmental Integrity Project is America’s environmental watchdog. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting public health and our natural world by holding polluters and government agencies accountable under the law. We advocate for tough but fair environmental standards and empower communities fighting for clean air and clean water.
Healthy Gulf’s purpose is to collaborate with and serve communities who love the Gulf of Mexico by providing the research, communications, and coalition-building tools needed to reverse the long pattern of over exploitation of the Gulf’s natural resources.
Micah 6:8 Mission is an environmental justice organization based in southwest Louisiana.
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Media contacts: Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project (443) 510-2574 or tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org
Stephannie Kettle, Healthy Gulf, (407) 361-9432 or skettle@healthygulf.org
