The Delaware City Refinery continues to grapple with excessive chemical emissions, as state officials keep an eye on air quality.
The refinery reported on May 26 that a pollution control device failed.
Since then, the facility reported several more chemical releases, primarily of sulfur dioxide. Still, officials with DNREC say there’s no current threat to public health.
The federal standard for sulfur dioxide in the air, as determined by the EPA, is 75 parts per billion per hour. The amount of sulfur dioxide in the air, as measured by the nearby Route 9 monitoring site has remained well below that standard as of Tuesday morning. The highest hourly level of sulfur dioxide recorded at the monitoring site was 29 parts per billion on Sunday, June 1.
Meanwhile, the refinery is running a backup device to replace the one that failed, but that device doesn’t filter out sulfur dioxide, meaning more releases are likely. But, shutting the facility down is not an option, according to DNREC’s Angela Marconi.
“The shutdown would take several days and during start up or shutdown of equipment like this, that's when there is a larger potential for other emissions upsets," she said.
DNREC continues to be in close contact with PBF Energy, which owns the refinery.
“DNREC has been talking with the refinery as this continues, to make sure that they are evaluating the path forward and completing the necessary repairs and looking at all options," Marconi said. She added that protecting public health and the environment are DNREC's top priorities as the situation evolves.
There is currently no timeline on when the equipment will be up and running again. Regularly updated air quality data from the Route 9 monitoring facility and DNREC’s other monitoring sites is available at de.gov/airdata.
