Delaware City Refinery issued reprimand by state
Scott Goss
The Delaware City Refinery is in hot water with state regulators over a sudden shutdown of key equipment last summer that might have resulted in a large release of air pollutants.
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources recently issued a formal reprimand to the company over the shutdown. The incident marks the 12th time the refinery has violated one of its permits since the start of 2016 – the most violations incurred by any one company during that time period.
The most recent incident involves the Aug. 21 shutdown of the refinery's 47,000-barrel-a-day fluid coking unit, which extracts extra petroleum products out of bottom-of-the-barrel leftovers from other refining processes.
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That morning, operators at the refinery discovered a hole in a section of the fluid coking unit near a nozzle that feeds petroleum products to the equipment, according to a Nov. 16 violation notice issued by DNREC.
The feed line was pulled at 8:55 a.m. and the entire unit was shut down, state records show.
In the documents, DNREC says it sought more information from the refinery about the shutdown, which "has the potential to emit extremely large quantities of uncontrolled pollutants."
The refinery insisted the discovery did not result in an emergency shutdown. Instead, company officials claim it was planned in advance.
During normal operating conditions, DNREC imposes strict limits on a host of air pollutants, including sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and ammonia. But those limits are less strict during planned shutdown events that last longer than 116 hours, according to the refinery's state-issued air quality permits.
That flexibility is not available during emergency shutdowns.
But the Delaware City refinery's air quality permit does require company officials to notify DNREC of any planned shutdown at least 24 hours in advance. In this instance, the refinery failed to notify state regulators until 26 hours after the shutdown occurred – a delay state regulators say is "unacceptable."
The violation notice does not specify the types or amounts of air pollutants released by refinery during the Aug. 21 shutdown. DNREC on Wednesday declined to comment on the violation notice, citing an ongoing investigation.
A spokesman for refinery owner PBF Energy said the company is limited in what it can say because both it and the state are "reviewing this matter."
"Despite the notification issue, we can reassure you that our Delaware City team is dedicated to operating the refinery safely, reliably, and in an environmentally responsible manner, in full compliance with all permits, laws and regulations," Michael Karlovich said in an email.
It remains to be seen whether DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin will impose a $10,000 fine on the refinery for the violation – the maximum allowed under state law.
The 11 permit violations racked up by the refinery over the last two years – most connected to flaring incidents – have so far resulted in only one fine.
Garvin's predecessor, former DNREC Secretary David Small, levied a $150,000 fine against the refinery in March for violating a 2013 DNREC order that limits where the company can ship crude oil by barge.
That order allowed PBF Energy to ship crude oil from its Delaware City-area plant for the first time but limited the destination of those shipments only to another refinery the company owns in Paulsboro, New Jersey.
After a whistleblower contacted the Delaware Department of Justice about shipments to other refineries in 2014, DNREC confronted refinery officials who admitted to sending a single barge to the Philadephia Energy Solutions refinery on the Schuylkill River.
A DNREC review of the company's internal documents later revealed the refinery sent 17 barges – collectively totaling 35.7 million gallons of oil – to three destinations during 2014.
PBF Energy has since appealed the $150,000 fine imposed by Small after those additional shipments were discovered. A hearing before the state Environmental Appeals Board has twice been postponed and is now scheduled for Feb. 27.
Contact reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.