LAT: Outage Sparks New Air Quality Worry: Refineries lose power,burn gases

[DeepModem Mom]

Outage Sparks New Air Quality Worries
A long-running debate over pollution is intensified when oil refineries lose power and burn gases as a safety precaution.

By Deborah Schoch, Times Staff Writer


The flames and black smoke that rose from three oil refineries after last week's Los Angeles blackout have stirred up the debate over how to stem the pollution that comes from burning excess gases.

The Sept. 12 blackout caused three Wilmington refineries to shut down abruptly. The plants then used open flames or flares as safety measures to reduce pressure. The result produced the eerie spectacle of leaping flames and billowing black smoke captured by television news helicopters.

The vivid pollution has hardened the resolve of some harbor-area residents to press for strong curbs on flaring. Wilmington activist Jesse Marquez took photographs of the flames and is mounting a door-to-door effort to document any health problems residents experienced....

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Joe Sparano, president of the Western States Petroleum Assn., an industry trade group, said the flares are a safety measure to prevent pressure from building dangerously in the plants. "The flares did exactly what they're supposed to do," he said "They did their job splendidly."

But Southern California air quality regulators believe that curbs are needed on nonemergency flaring, the most common flaring use in the region. They have drafted a proposal they say would remove more than two tons of air pollutants emitted daily by the 27 flares at eight Los Angeles-area refineries and two other plants....


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-flaring19sep19,0,5296923.story?coll=la-home-local