A final draft air permit that will control emissions from the BP Whiting Refinery's $3 billion expansion is being reviewed by company officials and should soon be opened to public comment.
BP officials, interviewed at The Times Friday, said carbon monoxide will be the only pollutant to increase under the new permit and they have sought the best technology to deal with it. They stressed BP musty apply the latest EPA standards for the projcet.
"It is heavy crude, so we are adding a lot of new process heaters and with those come emissions out of those stacks," said Stan Sorrels, BP's manager for health, safety, security and environment.
The refinery will triple its use of heavy crude oil from Canadian tar sands as a result of the expansion. That oil is thicker and more difficult to process than the bulk of the crude the refinery currently handles.
BP officials would not say when they expect to complete the review. But it must be put out for public comment and receive approval from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before construction can begin.
BP wants to begin construction in the first or second quarter of 2008, Sorrels said. The expansion will begin operating in phases and will not be fully operational until 2011.
Because carbon monoxide emissions were projected to increase more than 100 tons per year with the expansion, a Major New Source Review was triggered, according to Dan Murray, assistant commissioner for air quality at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
That means BP will be required to use the best available technologies to lessen the amount and impact of its carbon monoxide emissions and follow the latest EPA emission standards.
Emissions data on IDEM's Web site shows the refinery emitted 2,055 tons of carbon monoxide in 2003, the most recent year for which data is available.
Carbon monoxide is a major contributor to ground-level ozone. Breathing ozone can trigger a variety of health problems and can worsen others, according to the EPA.
The permit also will set allowable levels for particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxide. According to the draft, emissions of some of those pollutants would increase and some would decrease, Murray said.
When the draft is put out for public comment, a meeting date for explaining the permit and taking public comment will be set, said Nisha Sizemore, IDEM air permit branch chief.
The public and the EPA will have at least 30 days to comment. Those comments are then reviewed by IDEM. The agency can make changes to the permit. Then an approval to construct permit can be issued.
After the approval to construct permit is issued, there is a 45-day EPA review period before an approval to operate permit can be issued.
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