Marathon oil refinery in center of city seeks major air permit
Marathon Petroleum Corp. is seeking to renew for another 10 years the Texas air permit regulating pollution from much of its large oil refinery dominating the landscape in East-Central El Paso.
The 95-year-old refinery is one of the major sources of pollution in El Paso.
The renewal application, filed Dec. 6 with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental regulation agency, comes a year after Marathon successfully renewed a smaller permit regulating pollution from refinery fuel storage tanks.
A long list of people opposed that renewal.
Opportunity to voice concerns about refinery
The permit renewal process is “an opportunity for us (community) to voice our concerens to the state agency and hope they do the right thing and deny anything that results in an increase in emissions,” said Miguel Escoto, communications director for the Amanecer People’s Project, formerly Sunrise El Paso. It’s the El Paso environmental group that got the controversial Prop K city Climate Charter proposal before voters, who rejected it in the May election.
Preliminary data indicate refinery pollution would increase under the renewed permit, according to a brief permit summary posted on the TCEQ website.
Marathon has “not done enough to reduce emissions from the refinery. It’s still one of the largest sources of emissions for our area. Anytime you drive by there, you can smell the emissions; residents in the area are still suffering the health impacts, the odors,” Escoto said.
Marathon officials did not timely respond to requests for comments about the permit renewal to be included in
this story. But early in 2023, the refinery’s general manager, Travis Beltz, said the refinery had reduced emissions over the past decade through proactive steps, some of that before Marathon acquired the facility in 2018. It also reduced emissions under the smaller air permit TCEQ renewed at the end of 2022.
People can submit comments to the TCEQ for the refinery’s latest renewal request – comments that agency information states will be considered in making a final decision on the renewal. However, regulators only evaluate environmental aspects of the permit, not effects on property values, noise, traffic safety, or other non-environmental issues, according to TCEQ information.
The latest renewal is for the refinery’s major air permit, which expires in June 2024, regulating pollution from its oilprocessing facilities and a wide range of other equipment.
It would authorize the continued operation of the refinery, according to Marathon’s permit summary.
Neighborhoods grew around 95-year-old refinery
The refinery complex is on 550 acres. Trowbridge Drive runs through the middle of the complex, which borders Interstate 10 and is surrounded by several neighborhoods.
It can process up to 133,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It turns crude oil into gasoline and other fuel that are sold at gas stations in El Paso and other cities. It also produces distillates, heavy fuel oil, asphalt and propane.
The plant employs almost 400 people, making it a major El Paso employer.
The city grew around the 95-year-old refinery, but it’s still “unjust for this refinery to be plopped right in the center of our city,” Escoto said. “The community is suffering directly from these emissions,” which have negative health consequences, he said.
City leaders need a plan to eventually close the refinery as part of transitioning this area to renewable energy, he said.
Pollution increases under proposal
Emissions of 11 pollutants allowed by the air permit could increase just over 17 tons per year to 1,905 tons per year, with almost all the increase from volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, show preliminary data in the permit summary.
The data can change during the state regulators’ technical review of the application, according to the permit summary.
Two of the refinery’s largest pollutants under the air permit are VOCs, and nitrogen oxides, or NOx, both gases that help form smog, which can pose health risks.
The preliminary data shows Marathon is proposing to increase the amount of VOC emissions that can be released by just over 16 tons a year, and keep emissions of nitrogen oxides about the same.
Other major pollutants regulated under the permit are particulate matter (which includes dust, dirt, and smoke), carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide.
The refinery also has additional emissions regulated by other air permits.
How to file public comments
Public comments on the proposed renewal for air permit No. 18897 can be submitted electronically at www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/, or by mail: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087.
More information from TCEQ about the permit application and permitting process is available by phone: 800-6874040.
The permit notice and other information can be found on the TCEQ Commissioners’ Integrated Database by searching for Western Refining, the name under which the refinery operates.
Also, a person directly affected by the refinery’s pollution can request a trial-like contested case hearing within 15 days after the permit notice is published, which is pending.