Environmental group threates to sue ExxonMobil over Baytown emissions

ERJ staff report (DS)

Houston, Texas -- An environmental group has threatened to sue ExxonMobil Corporation in federal court for thousands of violations of the federal Clean Air Act at its Baytown refinery and chemical plant complex.

The suit would be the third case filed by the two environmental groups -- Sierra Club and Environment Texas -- since 2008 to stop illegal air emissions arising from so-called “upset” events at facilities along the Houston Ship Channel.

According to the groups' analysis of ExxonMobil's own reports to TCEQ, air pollutants released during upsets at Baytown since November 2004 include approximately:

• 3.5 million pounds of sulfur dioxide;
• 2 million pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs);
• 6 million pounds of carbon monoxide;

  • 275,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides;

• 35,000 pounds of benzene and 60,000 pounds of 1,3-butadiene.

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Press release from Lone Star Sierra Club