Deposition on Refinery Flares Sparks Debate Between Lawyers

By Christine Rappleye, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas

Mar. 31–A Beaumont attorney called a Valero refinery environmental manager’s deposition statements “astonishing,” while refinery officials called the attorney’s interpretation inaccurate.

The environmental manager testified Thursday “that none of the flare stack emissions from Valero’s Port Arthur refinery are allowed under any permits granted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality,” according to the press release from the law firm of Pearson and Campbell.

Georgie Volz, the TCEQ regional director, said she thought the Valero manager was referring to unscheduled flares, and not to regular operations emissions regulated by the state.

The law firm’s Thomas Pearson is one of the attorneys in a lawsuit filed in 2004 on behalf of 2,250 children younger than 18 against Valero, Motiva and Total.

Flare and emissions levels are authorized in the refinery’s air permit from the TCEQ, according to a statement from Valero officials. They also provided to The Enterprise a list of emissions allowed under the permit

There are times when there is an “unscheduled incident” which has criteria set by the state agency. The refinery has to notify the agency of its occurrence and report how much was burned off. The incidents should not involve human error and require proper maintenance of the equipment, Volz said.

The unscheduled incidents are not listed in the air permit, but are allowable if they meet certain standards, Volz said.

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