September 28, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

American Farm Publications, Inc.

Oct. 1 deadline looms on EPA diesel regulations

9.25.2007

By SUSANNE ZILBERFARB
Special to The Delmarva Farmer

Farmers [in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic area of the US, designated “NEMA” by EPA] with on-farm fuel storage tanks larger than 550 gallons have until Oct. 1 to meet EPA regulations regarding the sulfur content for their off-road diesel or face fines of up to $32,500 per day per violation.

By Oct. 1, the diesel fuel in those tanks must contain 500 parts per million (ppm) or less of sulfur, as part of a national reduction of sulfur in fuel.

The current high sulfur diesel in those off-road tanks may contain from 2,000 to 5,000 ppm sulfur….

Farmers who still have large volumes of high-sulfur diesel can transfer that fuel to their home heating oil tanks, where it is not affected by these regulations, and then blend down the remaining fuel with ULSD….

Further sulfur reductions are set for phase-in beginning June 1, 2010, when the sulfur content for non-road diesel will be further reduced to a maximum of 15 ppm — the current requirement for on-road diesel…. (Full Story)

Posted in Fines & Penalties, Ultra-Low-Sulphur Diesel | Print | No Comments »

September 25, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

ANA/MPA

Greece: PPC fined one million euros for excessive emissions

The state-run Public Power Corp. (PPC) was fined one million euros for exceeding atmospheric pollutants emission limits, the Greek environment, town planning and public works ministry announced on Monday. The fine was imposed following environmental inspections at several power plants operated by PPC throughout the country….

In a breakdown of the fines imposed, Souflias said power plants at Megalopoli, in the central Peloponnese, had been fined 400,000 euros for greatly exceeding hourly and daily limits for sulphur dioxide gas emissions considered safe for public health, while sulphur scrubbers at one Megalopoli plant had not operated for 31.1 per cent of the hours the plant was in operation in 2006, so it greatly exceeded sulphur dioxide emission limits.

The plant had also failed to monitor levels of sulphur dioxide, dust, nitrogen oxides and percentage oxygen at several of its units…. (Full Story)

Posted in Fines & Penalties, Pollution: Health Issues, Nitrogen-Oxides, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

September 20, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

yosemite.epa.gov

OpenDocument

(Washington, D.C. – Sept. 20, 2007) In a landmark settlement filed today, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, a coal-fired electric utility, has agreed to pay an $11.4 million penalty to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act’s acid rain program, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today….

“This settlement shows that when you violate the law, [the] EPA will be there to make you pay.”….

The government estimated that the utility’s Dale Generating Station emitted over 15,000 tons of sulfur dioxide and 4,000 tons of nitrogen oxide without a permit from approximately 2000-2005. In addition, the government alleged the utility exceeded the federal annual emission rate for nitrogen oxides….

Coal-fired plants release sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides, which are a primary cause of acid rain that harms trees and lakes and impairs visibility. Nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides cause severe respiratory problems, contribute to childhood asthma, and contribute to smog and haze. Emissions from power plants can drift significant distances downwind and degrade air quality in nearby areas…. (Full Story)

Posted in Pollution: Health Issues, Fines & Penalties, Acid Rain, Nitrogen-Oxides, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

August 24, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Bloomberg Television NewsImperial Oil Is Fined C$100,000 for Sulfur Emissions (Update1)

By Ian McKinnon

Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) — Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada’s largest oil company, was fined C$100,000 ($95,039) for violating air- quality standards in Ontario. (Full Story)

Posted in Fines & Penalties, Community & Industry, Emission Incidents & Issues, 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.

ABC News Online [Australia]

Mining company Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines has been fined $25,000 by the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) for a breach of its operating licence nearly two years ago.

The penalty was issued over an incident in May 2005, when sulphur dioxide above permitted levels from the company’s Gidji roaster was detected at Coolgardie, about 30 kilometres away in south-east Western Australia….(Full Story — off-site)

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

February 26, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

Transitions Online (TOL) and neweurasia, February 23rd, 2007Tengiz, Kazakhstan’s biggest onshore oil field, is known to produce sulphur-rich crude. ChevronTexaco, exploring, developing and producing at Tengiz since the early 1990s, has had different ideas how to get rid of this unwanted by-product. Until today, these attempts have not yielded any noticeable success, though. In 2001, St. Petersburg Times correspondent Christopher Pala reported:

There are 4.5 million tons of sulfur at Tengiz spread out on football-field-sized cakes that are 7.5 meters thick. And every day another 4,500 tons of liquid sulfur comes up with the oil and is sprayed with agricultural watering equipment out onto the yellow slabs, solidifying rapidly into a luminous, porous material that gives off hardly any odor at all….

“According to our data, this sulphur negatively affects the environment,” said Turaly Onerbayev, regional representative of the natural resources and environmental protection ministry.

The sheer size of the amassed sulphur deposits became an environmental hazard, and several people had to get relocated several miles away from wind corridors. The Guardian ran a story on this in 2002:

Even before the imposition of the fine, it was clear that about 3,000 people were having to be moved 50 miles away because of pollution - and they blame sulphur dust for their illnesses.

TCO [Tengizchevoil] denies the charge and says the sulphur is safe, but has decided to get rid of it. Until recently it had virtually no outlet for it; in landlocked Kazakhstan the only route out for large volumes of sulphur has been by rail, but TCO has used every available slot for transporting oil.

Now, however, TCO has linked up with the Russian oil pipelines, so most of its output no longer needs to go by rail. But there is a second problem: a worldwide sulphur glut. Some 40m tonnes of sulphur a year is used by industry, mostly in the form of sulphuric acid, but there is still an excess. From a peak of £100 a tonne in 1988, sulphur prices have dropped to £20 a tonne this year. To unload an additional six million tonnes on the market would mean the price would drop to near zero.

But TCO has to do something. It has put in a £30m plant to process the sulphur into flakes for the Chinese fertiliser market and granules for the western market. The flakes are already being exported by rail to China and the granules will be heading west to Black Sea ports for European and American markets.

At most TCO expects to be selling 3,000 tonnes a week next year [2003], but even that vast quantity means the sulphur mountain will still be growing at 1,000 tonnes a week. (Full Story)

…There is not a lot Chevron can do. The world market price for sulphur is relatively weak and would of course not survive a massive injection of the Tengiz deposits without plunging. The further reprocessing of the sulphur to chemical fertiliser has been attempted, but also here prices are volatile and of course very supply-elastic.

The bottom line is that Chevron would have to invest millions of dollars to get rid of the stuff - without earning a single dime….Chevron has one month to come up with an action plan on how to get rid of the now almost 10 million tonnes of sulphur that have piled up….(Full Story and Photo)

Posted in Fines & Penalties, Emission Incidents & Issues, World Sulphur Glut, Sulphur Logistics | Print | No Comments »