Citizens frustrated by air quality violations at an area refinery take their case to court.
According to its own reports to stateregulators, the Shell Oil
refinery complex in Deer Park has released millions of pounds of air
pollutants over the past four years during so called "upsets" involving
equipment breakdowns that occurred weekly.
There are more than 60 pending state complaints against the
refinery, the nation's eighth-largest and the No. 2 air polluter in
Harris County. In response to the chronic problems, the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality has repeatedly fined Shell, but the
violations continue. In an attempt to force the energy giant to correct
the problem, members of the Sierra Club and Environment Texas have
filed a federal lawsuit under provisions of the Clean Air Act that
allow citizens to take legal action to restrain polluters.
Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, says the
groups were forced to act because federal and state agencies have
failed to effectively enforce the law. "Shell has violated its permits,
broken the law, [got] fined and [paid] the fines, and then it's
business as usual," Metzger said. He contends the company is treating
the fines as a slap on the wrist and made minimal effort to alleviate
the causes of the violations.
The lawsuit asks that a federal court find Shell in continuing
violation of the Clean Air Act, order it to take appropriate actions to
eliminate the threat to public health, and compel the company to pay up
to $32,500 per day for violations dating back to 2002. The Sierra
Club's Neil Carman says the highest priority is to get new equipment,
including flare gas recovery systems, installed at the refinery to
prevent the unnecessary venting of pollutants such as benzene.
Although Shell officials have held talks with the litigants and
claim the company is improving its environmental record, the company's
own records indicate otherwise.
Chronicle coverage in the past three years extensively documented
the failure of the TCEQ to adequately monitor air toxic emissions by
industry and the lax state standards for permissible pollution levels
compared to those of other states. Likewise, the Environmental
Protection Agency during this administration has been more willing to
allow industry to police itself rather than to aggressively enforce
existing statutes. According to an EPA spokesman, most air pollution
permitting and enforcement duties in Texas have been delegated to the
state.
Houston Mayor Bill White has pushed an initiative that would allow
the city to use nuisance ordinances and litigation to crack down on air
polluters inside the city and beyond its borders. Mayors of neighboring
municipalities with industrial bases and local business groups have
objected, and the plan remains in the discussion stages.
Until all levels of government collaborate to clean up Houston's
air, citizen groups such as those who filed the Shell suit are right to
attempt to hold polluters in Texas accountable.
