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Back to Air Projects page.
Public Petition
Carol Browner December 30, 1998
Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street SW
Washington, DC 20460 fax: 202-260-0279
Ref: A public petition under the 1990 Clean Air Act requesting revocation of the Title V,
Part 70 permit issued for Exxon Chemical America's Polypropylene Unit, Permit No.
2581-V0, by Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality. This petition further asks
the EPA to address Environmental Justice and Civil Rights issues associated with this
permit and with other permitting in this community and to deny the permit on this basis.
Dear Ms. Browner,
This letter is submitted as a public petition under the 1990 Clean Air Act
Amendments (CAA) and the Louisiana Administrative Code 33:III Chapter 5 (LAC
33:III.5). LAC 33:III.5 is the basis for which the EPA delegated Title V permitting
authority to the state of Louisiana. This public petition is in reference to the Title V, Part
70 permit issued to Exxon Chemical America's Polypropylene Unit, Permit No. 2581-V0.
This petition is submitted on behalf of the North Baton Rouge Environmental
Association and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, and is submitted via
facsimile to the office of the Administrator and by mail to the office of the Administrator.
This petition is our submission of a civil rights violation and complaint under Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act. This complaint is alleging discriminatory effects resulting from
the issuance of pollution control permits by the state of Louisiana and the Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality occurred in and near the Alsen area of Louisiana,
including the north Baton Rouge area. This complaint further alleges that the granting of
a permit allowing air emissions from the proposed Exxon polypropylene facility will be a
discriminatory act and will create a disparate impact that adds to an existing disparate
impact on a racial or ethnic population, creates a disparate impact on a racial or ethnic
population or adds to an existing disparate impact on a racial or ethnic population.
In addition to submitting a civil rights complaint, we request that the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department investigate all permitting
efforts by the state of Louisiana and determine if civil rights violations have occurred in
the past due to effects resulting from the issuance of pollution control permits by state of
Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality in the Alsen and north
Baton Rouge areas, and that these and other federal agencies find a method or remedy for
alleviating these civil rights violations. We also ask that the proposed Exxon permit for
the polypropylene facility be denied as a discriminatory act that will create a disparate
impact on a racial or ethnic population and/or add to an existing disparate impact on a
racial or ethnic population.
This petition also asks that the proposed Exxon permit allowing emissions in the
Baton Rouge nonattainment area be denied because the Baton Rouge ozone
nonattainment area is not making reasonable further progress in achieving ozone
attainment and doesn't adhere to the requirements of Title I of the Clean Air Act.
Reasonable further progress in achieving attainment is the cornerstone of Title I of the
Clean Air Act. Reasonable further progress is defined in Section 171 and is a requirement
of Title I of the Clean Air Act. This petition contends that among other problems, the
reasonable further progress requirements of Title I are not being met and that the permit
for the Exxon polypropylene unit must be denied. These reasonable further progress
requirements are stated in, but not limited to, Sections 172(c)(2), 182(c)(2)(7)(8)(9),
182(b)(1), and 189(c)(1)(2).
The Baton Rouge ozone nonattainment area has been getting worse, not better, in
the severity and frequency of ozone exceedence episodes since the enactment of the 1990
Clean Air Act Amendments. Recent years have shown an increase in the number of ozone
exceedences and in the severity of these exceedences so that we are now worse off than at
the start of our required nine year attainment plan. As of December of 1998 there has
been no progress in achieving ozone attainment in the Baton Rouge ozone nonattainment
area since the enactment of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.
The Baton Rouge area already has four of our eleven monitors out of attainment
for November of 1999, which is the end of the nine year attainment program specified in
Title I, SEC. 181. CLASSIFICATIONS AND ATTAINMENT DATES. Three more
monitors are in jeopardy of becoming nonattainment by November 1999 if they measure
one exceedence during the summer of 1999. Baton Rouge has one monitor that recorded
four exceedences in 1998 and is therefore already out of attainment for the year 2000.
In 1998, the Baton Rouge ozone nonattainment area had sixteen ozone
exceedences, which is the highest number of exceedences in the nonattainment area since
1981. This does not represent progress in achieving ozone attainment, and permitting
more emissions can only hurt efforts in achieving ozone attainment.
The addition of the air emissions from the proposed Exxon polypropylene facility
will adversely affect the ozone situation in the Baton Rouge ozone nonattainment area,
and therefore should not be allowed. The addition of the proposed emissions from the
proposed Exxon polypropylene facility will not help and can only hinder the Baton Rouge
nonattainment area in achieving ozone attainment and in meeting the ozone attainment and
overall air quality requirements of Title I of the Clean Air Act and will not allow
reasonable further progress for the purpose of ensuring attainment of the applicable
national ambient air quality standard . We ask that the permit be denied for any of these
reasons.
The petitioners also request that the contingency measures under Title I, Section
172(c)(9) be implemented.
This petition is being sent within sixty days of the close of the public comment
period.
Sincerely,
Marylee Orr
Executive Director
cc: Al Gore, Vice President of the United States
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