More monitoring coming to the Delaware City Refinery, resident complaints are encouraged

Delaware’s largest polluter will soon have an extra set of eyes monitoring its operations.

The Clean Air Council, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization, was recently granted $500,000 to monitor and track the Delaware City Refinery’s emission of air pollutants.

Chemicals that can pose a threat to human health such as benzene and ammonia will be measured every five minutes and made publicly available. The team plans on combining the pollutant data with anecdotal data from nearby residents to better understand the impacts that the refinery’s operations has on public health.

The Clean Air Council applied for the grant funding last year and was officially announced by the EPA Oct. 24. Although, it may take a while for the project to start up. Russell Zerbo, advocate for the Clean Air Council, estimates that the project will officially start next year and last until around 2027.

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Zerbo said that DNREC, which is in charge of regulating the refinery’s operations, may be spread too thin when it comes to receiving complaints and concerns from residents around the state, especially when it comes to public health concerns.

He hopes that the project team can become a liaison for communicating concerns between the general public and local government.

“We are ready to receive complaints. We want to hear about what you’re experiencing locally,” Zerbo said.

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Other goals of the project include creating a disaster-preparedness plan with which the group can inform and help the nearby communities and organizing community workshops. The Clean Air Council has also set up a local partnership with Harrison Little Learners Daycare center in Delaware City.

PBF Energy, which owns the Delaware City Refining Company, did not respond to a request for comment.

The future of the refinery

At the end of the project’s three-year run, Zerbo hopes that all of the data can be used to influence the standards set forth in the Refinery’s air pollution permit, which is renewed by DNREC every five years.

DNREC moved to renew the air pollution permit for the Delaware City Refinery in 2022 pending EPA approval, but seven environmental organizations in and around Delaware filed a petition against the permit’s approval. The petition cited a number of claims including that DNREC did not abide by the proper public hearing processes or address environmental justice concerns.

Over 86,000 people live within a five-mile radius of the refinery, over half of which are people of color and 20% of which are low income, according to EPA data referenced in the petition.

Historically, the Delaware City Refinery has been the state’s biggest polluter and has racked up a number of violations to their air pollution permit, including three in the past year.

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According to EPA data, the refinery released nearly 5.7 million pounds of pollutants in 2021 including over 15,000 pounds of carcinogenic chemicals.

The refinery has garnered interest from proponents of green energy in the offshore wind and hydrogen power industries who believe that repurposing the existing infrastructure will make the state more attractive for investments in renewable energies.

Contact Molly McVety at mmcvety@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @mollymcvety.