Kinder-Morgan, Equilon (Shell) and Chevron Title V Permits up for renewal

7 companies

8 terminals

586 storage tanks

300 million gallon capacity

1,394 tons of volatile organic compounds emitted annually

--This is a description from Paul Koberstein, of CASCADIA TIMES, of the Northwest Portland Petroleum Tank Farm situated between Hwy 30 and the Willamette River, as analyzed from current  Title V air pollution operating permits.  On the ten year anniversary of publishing BAD AIR DAYS, Cascadia Times has been looking back into the air quality issues of Northwest Portland. After CT's publication of the story of faulty control technologies at the fuel transfer stations along the Willamette, David Paul a leading attorney with a soft spot for the environment, successfully represented NW neighbors fighting Chevron for failing to properly capture hundreds of tons of VOC's in their fuel transfer process at the NW terminal.

Currently three companies' Title V air permits are up for renewal: Equilon (Shell), Chevron and Kinder-Morgan.  If you click on their names, you can go to the Department of Environmental Quality's website announcements.  According to Koberstein,  "Kinder Morgan's gasoline storage tanks contain 30 percent of the 300 million gallons of gasoline stored here in Portland, and they leak like crazy." He estimates 236 tons per year.  California has required that companies ensure storage facilities have a leakage rate of no more than 100 parts per million (ppm); Oregon allows for 10,000 ppm. That, and the fact that our gasoline (due to a combination of refinery standards and where it is sourced from) has some of the highest Benzene content in the US (nearly 3x higher), makes for a really bad stew.

If you live in the Northwest neighborhood, you may recall in spring 2009, experiencing a strong presence of "natural gas" or "unburned fuel" odors that persisted for almost two weeks.  NW Natural Gas was called over 100 times, by anxious residents concerned about an active leak in their home. A medical clinic on NW 23rd and Lovejoy called an inspector out to determine the cause of the odor. Lincoln High School was thoroughly inspected by a hazmat team, and Ainsworth ES evacuated the students before it was determined the gas odor was not originating on site. Many residents complained of dizziness and headaches. Though we were never provided a definitive explanation, many neighbors suspect the tank farms as the potential source of those odors.

For this reason, residents have requested a public hearing before these permits are renewed.  It is essential for citizens to make a strong showing at the public hearing for these two permits, to express concerns about the safety of these nearly 100 year old fuel storage units that have the potential to leak hundreds of volatile and deadly HAPS into our airshed including Benzene, a known carcinogen.  The request for a hearing has been accepted by DEQ and I will forward information as soon as I have it. In the meantime, DEQ advises that the written public comments are due by the following dates (click following links for each companies' public records):


Equilon (Shell) 5pm, January 25th  
DEQ Request for Comment 
Draft Permit  
Draft Review Report
Kinder-Morgan  5pm, January 26th  
DEQ Request for Comment 
Draft Permit  
Draft Review Report
Chevron  5pm, January 26th  DEQ 
Request for Comment 
Draft Permit  
Draft Review Report



All comments may be submitted to:
Catherine Blaine NWR AQ Permit Coordinator

nwraqpermits@deq.state.or.us

If you would like to receive notification directly, please email: pdxair@me.com, or you may follow us on Twitter: pdxair.

International Climate Action Day

Do you know what the number 350 means? If you do nothing else to mark this year's International Climate Action Day, I suggest you discover the meaning behind this number, and why an organization has devoted itself to educating the world to this cause.

350 parts per million is the magic number of sustainable levels of carbon in the atmosphere. Anything more than that, scientists say, causes Artic ice to melt, widespread drought, and kills forests. The earth is currently at 390 ppm. Yes. We are too high. But, the organizers say: "If we can stop pouring more carbon into the atmosphere, then forests and oceans will slowly suck some of it out of the air and return us to safe levels."

350.org is an International movement (click here to see more about this event) to raise citizen awareness and create a collective sense of urgency when our governments meet in December in Copenhagen to agree on a new climate treaty.

To live the creed: Think Global Act Local, Neighbors for Clean Air has launched a letter writing campaign aimed at reducing Portland's local industrial toxic air emissions. Citizens of Portland have already adopted lifestyle changes that reduced our local carbon emissions in 2007 to 1% below 1990 levels. That is outstanding, and shows a commitment by individuals to make the necessary sacrifices to reverse the damage of global climate change. But, that is only part of our air pollution problem in Portland. Industry makes up at least 15% of the total air pollution soup in our tri-county air shed, and as far as we can tell, looking at one industrial polluter, that number is only increasing.

So our 350 action is to send 350 letters (ok, I would rather it be 3500) to the Governor's office to ask for the following specific actions to curtail industrial air pollution in our state:

1. Reduce the Ambient Benchmark Concentration for manganese to the lower 0.09 ug/m3 level recently adopted by California.

2. Monitor to ensure the ambient conditions of fenceline neighborhoods of known industrial lead sources do not exceed the new stricter federal requirement of no more than 0.15µg/m3 per quarter.

Why these two actions?

Before last spring, when I came across the report published in USA Today about industrial air pollution and our schools, I knew little about the air toxic Manganese. But it is this toxin that put fifteen Portland schools, primarily in North and Northwest Portland, in the top 2% of the schools nationwide with the worst air due to industrial air toxics. Manganese, like lead, is a potent neurotoxin. There are no safe levels of exposure to children. While we have had some constructive conversation about the air toxics problem in our city over the last six months, there have been no substantive changes.

It is time to hold industry in this state to the same high standard we hold ourselves, to be part of the solution. This takes incremental rule changes and specific legislation that gets at source specific mitigation. This is how we will all win, and Oregon will truly become the greenest state in America.

Send your letter to the Governor today:

Governor Kulongoski

160 State Capitol

900 Court Street

Salem, Oregon 97301-4047

or online email: http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/contact_us.shtml