July 7, 2022 by Ashley Norris
EPA Objects to Valero Houston Refinery’s Title V Air Permit Due to TCEQ Compliance Failure, Continues to Rely on Harmful Policy that Endangers Clean Air
EPA Objects to Valero Houston Refinery’s Title V Air Permit Due to TCEQ Compliance Failure, Continues to Rely on Harmful Policy that Endangers Clean Air
Media Contacts:
Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project, 443-510-2574 or tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org
Alexandria Trimble, Earthjustice, (202) 792-6889, atrimble@earthjustice.org
Clarissa Ayala, Lone Star Legal Aid, 832-627-8404, cayala@lonestarlegal.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, July 7, 2022
Austin, Texas – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just exercised important oversight authority by issuing a formal objection (see attached EPA Order) to an air permit for the Valero Houston Refinery due to the failure of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to assure compliance with Clean Air Act emission limitations, including important monitoring requirements.
Among other important steps: the order recognizes the need for the facility to monitor for harmful pollution leaks, also known as fugitive emissions; the need for the state to satisfy its obligation to create a mailing list to share information with the public about the facility; and the need to add better monitoring for several other high-emitting units at the refinery, such as the flares and fluid catalytic cracking unit.
Compliance with all applicable clean air requirements is essential to protect public health and the environment in Texas and beyond. For years, community groups in Houston have sought stronger protection from the Valero Houston Refinery’s air pollution in Manchester, Pasadena, and nearby neighborhoods in the Houston Ship Channel, which also face serious cumulative harm and environmental injustice from Valero and multiple nearby polluting facilities. As the President of Caring for Pasadena Communities, Pat Gonzales, explains: “Historically, Manchester and the nearby neighborhoods have suffered from too much air pollution, causing its residents to get sick. We have been working on trying to reduce air emissions and improve monitoring and compliance by Valero. This EPA Order is a step in the right direction.”
EPA’s objection is in response to a petition filed in 2021 by Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (t.e.j.a.s.), Caring for Pasadena Communities, Sierra Club/ Lone Star Chapter, and Environmental Integrity Project, working with Lone Star Legal Aid and Earthjustice (see attached 2021 Petition). These same groups also recently filed comments highlighting problems with the TCEQ’s draft permit for the tank facility, also located at the Valero Houston site, requested a public hearing on the proposed permit for that part of the facility, and are currently waiting for the TCEQ’s response (see attached June 2022 Comments).
In its Order, EPA documents how TCEQ has failed to fulfill its responsibility on this permit further illustrating the repeated failure of TCEQ to protect the community’s health from this refinery and the state’s longstanding refusal to prioritize public health and clean air over polluter preferences. It will be important for EPA to continue exercising its oversight power to ensure TCEQ does not continue to evade vital clean air requirements as it follows up on EPA’s objection. For example, among other important steps, the Order recognizes the need for the facility to monitor for harmful pollution leaks also known as fugitive emissions, the need for the state to satisfy its obligation to create a mailing list to share information with the public on the facility, and the need for better monitoring for several other high-emitting units at the refinery such as the flares and fluid catalytic cracking unit.
Amy Dinn, Lone Star Legal Aid’s Managing Attorney for its Environmental Justice Team, representing Caring for Pasadena Communities in these matters, reflects that she “is hopeful the TCEQ will follow through promptly with the guidance and recommendations provided by the EPA Order to review and revise the Title V Permit for the Valero Houston Refinery” and notes “that community member will have an opportunity to continue to comment on any permit revisions after the TCEQ completes its review to ensure such follow through.”
While granting most of the community groups’ petition, the EPA Order unfortunately refuses to strengthen the underlying New Source Review requirements incorporated into this permit by relying on a harmful policy that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit rejected in a 2020 decision (Sierra Club v. EPA Case No. 18-9507). The EPA should revoke this policy nationwide if it intends truly to fulfill its promises on clean air and environmental justice.
The EPA Order and the groups’ 2021 Petition and June 2022 Comments are linked (EPA Order, 2021 Petition, 2022 Comments). Exhibits to the 2021 Petition and 2022 Comments are available on request.
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