August 28, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Edmonton SUN

Syncrude operation too smelly
Alberta government orders company to cut back emissions

By CP

Alberta Environment has ordered oil and gas producer Syncrude to cut back emissions from an operation in northern Alberta.

The government says the move is in response to public complaints about the smell, as well as monitoring of hydrogen sulphide near the company’s effluent pond on Mildred Lake, northwest of Fort McMurray.

Under the order, Syncrude must develop an interim action plan by Sept. 4 to minimize hydrogen sulphide and ammonia emissions from the pond, with a long-term plan due no later than Oct. 1….(Full Story)

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Posted in Community & Industry, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Hydrogen-Sulphide | Print | No Comments »

May 12, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Billings Gazette

By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press

State and federal regulators say a proposed $700 million coal-fired power plant near Great Falls meets the environmental standards needed to qualify for a government loan….
Environmental groups and some Great Falls residents had fought the project based on its high cost and projected pollution emissions. Those include 437 tons annually of sulfur dioxide, 805 tons of nitrogen oxides, 40 pounds of mercury and 2.1 million tons of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming….(Full Story — off-site)

Posted in Nitrogen-Oxides, Heavy-Metal Poisoning & Pollution, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

April 28, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Post-Tribune

French chemical company Rhodia Inc. will pay $2 million in fines and spend about $50 million to control air pollution at sulfuric acid plants, including one in Hammond….(Full Story — off-site)

Posted in Fines & Penalties, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

April 26, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

NewsBlaze

Acid manufacturer Rhodia Inc. will pay a $2 million penalty and spend approximately $50 million on air pollution controls at eight production plants in four states across the country, to resolve allegations that the company violated the Clean Air Act. The pollution controls are expected to reduce harmful emissions from its production plants in Texas, Louisiana, California and Indiana by 19,000 tons per year….(Full Story — off-site)

Posted in Fines & Penalties, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

April 19, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

P R Buzz

Written by Shaan Oosthuizen

Pretoria, South Africa, Apr 19, 2007 — /prbuzz/ — The CSIR and industrial partner Key Structure Holdings (KSH) have signed a contract with Anglo Coal for the building of a demonstration plant aimed at the recovery of products from waste gypsum, via the patented GypSLiM process.

Anglo Coal and the CSIR have cooperated for more than a decade in the development of water treatment technologies that addresses acid mine water problems. The successful implementation of the CSIR’s limestone-neutralisation technologies at Anglo Coal South Africa’s plants have cut the cost of acid water neutralisation in half, with water treatment plants based on the technology having been built all over Southern Africa and recently in Australia. Anglo Coal is presently constructing the world’s first plant to produce drinking water from acid mine drainage. The plant with a capacity of 20 megaliters per day (Ml/d) will aim to satisfy growing demand for drinking water at the Emalahleni Local Municipality….(Full Story — off-site)
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Note by folc.ca: Let’s hope that they will keep the radioactive heavy-metal isotopes from the waste gypsum within tolerable levels in the drinking water they will produce. — folc.ca

Posted in Pollution: Health Issues, Heavy-Metal Poisoning & Pollution, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

April 12, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

CNW GroupOTTAWA, April 12 /CNW/ - The representative of more than 20 producers and shippers of sulphur in Western Canada is calling on all federal parties to protect jobs, health and safety and the environment, by immediately passing legislation that will bring a speedy end to the current CN rail labour disruptions….

Friberg explained that if Sulphur can’t be transported by rail, the only options are to store the product on-site at plants or shut down oil and gas production. “From an environmental, safety or economic perspective, neither is a sustainable solution. It’s essential that Parliament act now,” he says….

Continued disruptions will force plants to store sulphur on-site as formed product or in storage blocks. As plants reach critical inventory levels, sulphur production will have to be significantly curtailed, which could result in a serious decrease (or elimination) of natural gas production….(Full Story)

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur Logistics, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

April 5, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Money Talks

The Moscow Times
Thursday, April 5, 2007. Issue 3630. Page 5.

Kazakhs Drop Chevron Tengiz Probe
Reuters

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan’s Ecology Ministry said Wednesday that it had dropped claims against the Chevron-led firms operating a large oil field after the group pledged $300 million per year for environmental protection.

TengizChevroil, or TCO, produces one-fifth of the country’s oil output from the huge Tengiz oil field in western Kazakhstan but has periodically faced accusations from the government over its environmental record. (Full Story — requires subscription; more on Chevron Tengiz oil field)
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asia.yahoo.com
Wednesday April 4, 11:47 PM

Kazakh ecology ministry drops Chevron Tengiz probe

ASTANA, April 4 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan’s Ecology Ministry said on Wednesday it had dropped claims against the Chevron-led firms operating a large oilfield after the group pledged up to $300 million a year for environmental protection….

Iskakov said the ministry’s change of heart came after pledges of increased environmental spending from TCO.

“Our complaint is that for every tonne of oil that they produce they spend just 1.3 tenge (1 U.S. cent),” he said. (Full Story; more on Chevron Tengiz oil field)

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

April 4, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

The Pensacola News Journal

Gulf Power puts up $500 million for cleaner air

CRIST - Described as its largest environmental project, Gulf Power revealed plans Tuesday to install a $500 million scrubber to remove nearly all sulfur dioxides generated by its Crist Plant….

Hutchinson said the half- billion-dollar cost of the scrubber’s installation will be recovered through a rate increase, but he would not speculate on the impact it will have on the average residential or commercial customer….(Full Story)

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

March 15, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Washington Group International to Perform Clean-Air Retrofit Services at Allegheny Energy Power Plant

PR-inside; 2007-03-15 17:16:53

BOISE, Idaho and MORGANTOWN, W.Va., March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Washington Group International announced today that it has been selected to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for a major environmental project at Allegheny Energy’s Fort Martin Power Station near Maidsville, W.Va. This initiative is part of Allegheny’s extensive environmental stewardship program to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.

As part of the $550 million project, Washington Group will provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for flue-gas desulfurization systems (scrubbers) at the 1,107-megawatt power plant. The scrubbers will be designed to remove more than 90 percent of the sulfur dioxide emissions from the station. In addition to the environmental benefits of the project, the system will enable the power plant to burn more local, high-sulfur coal. The retrofit is expected to be operational in 2009….(Full Story)

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur Logistics, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

March 7, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

North American Oil Sands Corporation posted documents regarding its proposed oilsands upgrader west of and close to Bruderheim. Full Story

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Note by folc.ca: Every Bitumen upgrader or desulphurization unit constructed will not only add a considerable amount of local air pollution that is aways scoffed off as being within acceptable limit but nevertheless helps to increase background levels of air pollution and haze.  It will also add substantially to the world sulphur glut.

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, World Sulphur Glut, Sulphur Logistics, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »