EPA Finds Thousands of Issues at Shale Plant; DEP Finds None

Below find an article from the Observer Reporter which outlines "minor" issues found at MarkWest facilities. Interesting to note that while EPA found numerous violations and issues at the plant in November when DEP completed a "Full Compliance Evaluation" on November 4, 2011, there were "No Violations Noted." Clean Air Council is currently in litigation with DEP for failing to properly permit the MarkWest Houston Processing Plant. 

http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Print/02-11-2012-MarkWest-inspection

Minor issues surface at plant
2/11/2012 3:33 AM

A three-day Clean Air Act inspection conducted in November by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found a handful of leaking valves and pumps at the MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources plant in Chartiers Township.

None of the agency's findings was major, but the midstream gas-processing company was notified of several potential issues.
 
MarkWest, which began operations in October 2008, processes natural gas for Range Resources Inc. The company has undergone a number of expansions and is poised to expand operations through two pipeline projects.
The inspection, by representatives of EPA's Region 3 Air Enforcement and Compliance Assistance Branch in Philadelphia, focused on emissions from combustion sources, the operation of two flares and the facility's leak-detection and repair program.
 
Among the EPA's list of potential issues were:
  • There have been at least three flaring events since September 2011;
  • There are more than 1,800 instances in which valves were not remonitored within 120 days of a problem;
  • The company is shipping unsampled liquid wastewater offsite and is not aware of possible volatile organic compounds or hazardous air pollutants associated with it;
  • Five leaks were discovered in 123 valves, and one of four pumps was found to be leaking;
  • The company is not conducting daily visible emission monitoring of the facility.
The report notes MarkWest is redesigning a flare tip after the September flaring incident, which occurred when a new fractionation tower and heater were brought online.
 
The company has a third-party contractor that conducts its leak-detection and repair program. That company monitors affected valves quarterly, pumps monthly and compressors annually.
 
Nathan Welder, senior environmental engineer for MarkWest, said the majority of instances when the valves were not being monitored occurred when a plant was shut down and no gas was flowing. The company has 15 days to fix a leak.
 
MarkWest's manager of environmental regulatory affairs, Robert McHale, said the wastewater is transported by a third party.
 
"It is totally documented and reported to the DEP," he said.
 
MarkWest has submitted an application for a Title V permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection because it is a major source of greenhouse gases. DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday said there have been no major compliance issues at the site.
 
The plant's closed loop system means there are few opportunities for leaks, Sunday said. When there is a flared event, it produces mainly carbon dioxide and water. The alternative would be venting by-products and would cause greater air emissions.
 
"We get reaction from the community when they do those flares," Sunday said. "It is dramatic, but that is the way it's supposed to work."
 
The Houston processing plant is becoming a key component in the transcontinental movement of ethane it distills from the "wet gas" portion of natural gas being produced in the area's Marcellus Shale.
 
Last summer, Denver-based MarkWest announced an agreement with Sunoco Logistics Partners to jointly develop a pipeline project known as Mariner West to deliver Marcellus Shale ethane from MarkWest Liberty's Houston complex to Sarnia, Ontario, markets in Canada. MarkWest said at the time it expected to have an initial capacity to transport up to 50,000 barrels per day of ethane and to be operational by mid-2013.
 
Separately, Enterprise Products Partners of Houston, Texas, announced in January it has sufficient transportation commitments to develop a 1,230-mile Appalachia-to-Texas, or ATEX Express, pipeline to deliver ethane production from the Marcellus and Utica shales of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the Gulf. The ATEX pipeline will originate at the Chartiers processing plant here.
 
Once the ethane reaches the Gulf Coast, it will be converted to ethylene, which is used to make a variety of plastics.
Calls to EPA representatives and its press office were not immediately returned.
 
Staff writer Michael Bradwell contributed to this report. Copyright Observer Publishing Co.

rss
Subscribe to the Council's RSS feed or follow us on Facebook and Twitter