A New Castle County lawmaker is raising concerns about ongoing chemical emissions at the Delaware City Refinery.
On May 25, a failure with a pollution control device at the refinery led to continuing, periodic releases of chemicals, primarily sulfur dioxide, into the air around the facility.
DNREC officials say they are monitoring air quality and there’s no current threat to public health. Since the mechanical failure, sulfur dioxide levels measured at a nearby monitoring station have stayed well within the safe range established by EPA. Still, New Castle Councilman Kevin Caneco - who represents that area - is concerned.
“There's kind of a conflicting narrative coming from DNREC about saying, ‘well, we're going to fine them because they exceeded our standards the state set, but there's no public health problem,’” he said.
Caneco says he expects more from DNREC.
“DNREC needs to increase the fines, but that's not going to do it alone," he said. "DNREC also needs to give us some solid outputs on what measures they're taking to ensure this isn't repetitively happening.”
Caneco says the neighborhoods near the refinery are vulnerable.
“You have thousands of people living within a five mile radius of this refinery," Caneco said. "With the wind that comes off the Delaware Bay - it fluctuates where these toxic fumes go.”
Meanwhile, state lawmakers, refinery representatives, and DNREC staff will hold a town hall Thursday at 5:00 pm at Kirkwood Sports near New Castle.
