Thursday it was released that 200 pounds of Sulfur Dioxide was accidentally released from the Delaware City’s PBF refinery..

It was allegedly caused by a mechanical malfunction at the facility …..  Sulfur Dioxide when mixed with H2O creates Sulfuric Acid. Air is full of water.  So are our lungs.

Bloomsberg reported on October 9, 2013 that Delaware City was postponing its Sulfur Dioxide fix till late 2014.  The refinery, which was initially expected to do the work as part of maintenance that month (October 2013), was halting its replacement of an exchanger on the sulfur unit, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t to be made public. … Work was pushed up one year to October 2014.

Had that work been done in a timely fashion, the Thursday’s reported release would never have occurred……..

According to Bloomsberg’s sources,  a coker, crude unit and hydrocracker, a hydrogen plant and desulfurizer,  were all originally scheduled for maintenance upgrades last fall.  Upon receiving costs estimates it was decided to split the job up to cover two fiscal cycles, and the desulfurizer maintenance was pushed to the next fiscal year.  It was known by upper management that this would necessitate a release of SO2 because of  accumulations caused by the outdated equipment. Another release is tentatively planned for September, just before work started.  

Due to wind conditions, the only Delawareans affected would be those downwind.  Only 1713 people live downwind from Delaware City’s gas crackers.   853 men, 860 women.

The average amount of SO2 from an oil burning plant, is 12 pounds per MWh….   Natural Gas is a hundred times less. About one percent of oil and that amounts to .12 pounds or 1 ounce per MWh…  Therefore 200 pounds of SO2 released is equivalent to 19 hours running at a one megawatt hour oil fired plant running full kilter… At a 248 MWh natural gas plant (TDC) running full kilter 24/7, it would be the equivalent of… (248 MWh X .12 lbs SO2/ MWh ) = 29.76 pounds of SO2 per hour….

So on one hand this may not seem like much… The 200 pound release is only the equivalent of  6.7 hours of a natural gas fired power plant running at full steam night and day….  precisely 6 hours and 43 minutes…. less than most of us sleep per night….

On the other hand that is quite a bit.  The Newark power plant will spew out a level of what  this report implies, is considered a toxic release requiring DNREC oversight,  FOUR TIMES EVERY SINGLE 24 HOUR DAY!

President Harker wants to build a power plant in town that will spew out four times this toxic release at Delaware City, every single day.

Governor Markell wants to build a power plant in town that will spew out frou times the toxic release at Delaware City, every single day.

The Delaware Chamber of Commerce wants to build a power plant in town that will spew out four times the toxic release of Delaware City every single day.

The Hammer and Nails Club wants to build a power plant in town that will spew out four times the toxic release of Delaware City, every single day.

Sam Latham of the AFL-CIO, wants to build a power plant in town that will spew out four times the toxic release of Delaware City, every single day.

Everyone wearing green and holding green signs, is looking the other way when it comes to having this toxic release, occurring ongoing in the heart of Newark, every, single day…..

Whereas only 1713 people due to geography could be even remotely affected from the Delaware city spill,  41 times that amount or 70,500 will inhale 4 times that amount every single day, because of someone’s brilliant idea of building a 248 MWh plant right inside the center of town… 

Pure brilliance.  President Harker.  Pure brilliance.

2013-12-17