10-22-07 by dugan
Either no one at BP’s big Carson, CA refinery has seen a TV for two days or its management just doesn’t give a damn about what the neighbors breathe. With Southern California inhaling a pall of smoke from dozens of uncontrollable wildfires, BP today announced it would start "flaring off" tons of hydrocarbon gases, releasing upwards of 500 pounds of sulfur dioxide plus other toxics and greenhouse gases.
The 260,000-barrel refinery started a maintenance overhaul at the beginning of this month and the flaring is apparently meant to burn off gas pressures before restarting. The official flaring notice posted on the state air quality web site gives no indication that the flaring is an emergency, or that it couldn’t be delayed for a few days.
Bumbling Petroleum strikes again. It’s a company richly deserving of the lower profits it is expected to report tomorrow.
The Southern California Air Quality Management District, which oversees air issues including refinery flaring, should be raising a ruckus about BP’s timing.
Southern Californians with eyes already burning from the smoke might want to call the AQMD hotline to inquire about BP’s flaring permit. That’s 1-800-CUTSMOG (1-800-288-7664)
Conoco Phillips, which has a smaller refinery in nearby Wilmington, CA, notified the AQMD late last month that it would be flaring off its own noxious gases for the next month. I don’t know if that is still going on as well.