Trailer For Upcoming Film, Local Connection

The film crew making this documentary on the dangers of bottled water were in Corpus Christi to film a segment because Corpus Christi Flint Hills Refinery (KOCH) produces more toxic chemicals that go into these plastic bottles than any other facility in the county.

Quote from the trailer:

"When people buy bottled water they are contributing to the toxic exposures that people here are suffering with." - Dr. Neil Carman

Members of CFEJ met with them for interviews. This film is destined to be in theaters.

Below is the clip of the trailer. It’s a 5 minute 41 second clip; at about 3 minutes and 20 seconds into it you’ll see a segment they filmed here locally.

You’ll see Flint Hills Refinery (or KOCH) – an interview with a CFEJ member, Jim Miller (pictured above) who lives by the west facility; Dr. Neil Carman, the Director of Air of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and the African American gentlemen at the end of the Corpus Christi segment included in the trailer is Horace Smith who lived by KOCH's east facility.

Quote from Horace Smith:

"We don't have a chance. We don't have a possible chance."

Mr. Smith died December 19, 2008.

"Tapped is a film that examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72MCumz5lq4

Koch Study on Benzene Emissions a Sham

Stationary Air Monitoring Data Fact Sheet

A benzene study paid for by Flint Hills Resources (Koch Refinery) and conducted by former TCEQ employee Laurie Haws has been the subject of some local meetings.

Using data from stationary monitors at fixed locations and comparing that to TCEQ health effects screening levels (ESLs), Haws concludes that local benzene measurements are below those that would be associated with health effects in people.

Study is fundamentally flawed

At the core of this study is data from stationary monitors; data from stationary monitors is not capable of reflecting what actual people are being exposed to. Monitoring is based on averaging which brings the numbers down – in essence, a numbers game. In addition, Dr. Neil Carman, Clean Air Director, Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club states, “Majority of air toxics monitors (including those tested for benzene) sample on average at dramatically lower flow rates and lower volumes compared to the breathing flow rates and respiratory volumes of human beings. A typical child is highly active and rapidly developing and so it has 2-3X the breath rate of an average adult.”

Furthermore, under oath, TCEQ employees have admitted to the limitations of monitoring data and have stated, under oath, that at times they experienced adverse heath effects from emissions along refinery row that monitoring data did not detect:

“Where – most often, when adverse health effects are reported by monitoring staff, we can’t verify it based on the measured concentration and the textbook knowledge on those chemicals. So, we know that there’s something in there causing health effects, but we can’t measure it sometimes.” – Vincent Leopold TCEQ toxicologist (USA vs CITGO pre-sentencing hearing (4/28/08)

“…the way I look at it is, the monitoring reports provide two kinds of information. One is the measured concentrations and the other is the reports by our staff. I mean, I guess if you want to look at it, I mean the human being is a monitor of sorts, perhaps a more perfect one than the scientific instrument…..There’s – lots of uncertainties. I don’t know what any one person was exposed to or for how long based on the monitoring data.” Vincent Leopold TCEQ toxicologist (USA vs CITGO pre-sentencing hearing, 4/28/08).

Tim Doty, of TCEQ Mobile Monitoring crew told a federal judge (5/1/08) that he and his crew often experience health effects while monitoring along Corpus Christi’s Refinery Row that include “burning nose, cough, irritated throat, nausea, burning eyes, everything along those lines.” Doty went on to testify that, “…there were times, frankly, that I feared for the safety of my crew.”


“The levels of chemicals in the samples taken at any fixed monitor would likely not represent the highest concentrations of chemicals in the air to which residents would be exposed because of the averaging that occurs from the fixed air monitoring stations, depending on the nature of the emissions released and the wind speed and direction.”
– Affidavit of Dr. Michael Honeycutt, Chief Toxicologist of the TCEQ (1/26/09).


USA Today Report “Toxic Air and America’s Schools” (December 2008)

A Corpus Christi Caller-Times article (Refinery refutes benzene worries, 3/8/09) included a quote from Haws with respect to the USA Today report stating, “I think what they did, it was just information out of context.”

But apparently the new US EPA Administrator under President Obama, Lisa Jackson, disagrees.

In response to the USA Today articles, Jackson pledged at her confirmation hearing to act on the data within 30 days of her confirmation.

An E&E Article (3/2/09) states: “U.S. EPA today announced new testing of air pollution near schools, marking the first time the agency will take a systematic approach to identifying facilities with potentially dangerous air quality.”
"Questions have been raised about air quality around some U.S. schools, and those questions merit investigation," Jackson said in a statement. "EPA will work quickly to make assessments and take swift action where necessary."

Bottom-line:

Monitors do not get sick when the pollution is real bad!

Monitors do not complain when the air is so bad humans find it hard to breathe.

Monitors do not metabolize benzene into its more toxic compound that produces cancer and leukemia.

The only safe level of exposure to a known human carcinogen like benzene is ZERO.

Notice on Upcoming Meeting

Meeting to Discuss the USA Today Report, “Toxic Air and America’s Schools” and
Implications for Corpus Christi Schools

Who? Citizens for Environmental Justice (CFEJ)

When? Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Where? Texas A&M University Corpus Christi,
Bay Hall 103

Time? 5:30 p.m.

Why? USA Today released an alarming report,
“Toxic Air and America’s Schools.” Using a
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
model and industry’s self-reported Toxic
Release Inventory (TRI) data, USA TODAY
collaborated with researchers and scientists
at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst,
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and
the University of Maryland in College Park
to analyze exposure to industrial pollution
at schools across the nation and then ranked
127,800 schools in the nation based on their
possible exposure to industrial air
pollution and the hazards the chemicals can
impose.

Of 130 schools analyzed in Corpus Christi,
118 ranked in the worst half of the nation.
Schools along refinery row ranked among the
worst in the entire nation, schools like Oak
Park Elementary: 2nd Percentile; Miller High
School 2nd percentile; Gibson Elementary: 3rd
Percentile; Tuloso Midway Primary: 7th
Percentile

The report cautions that many factors can
contribute to the rankings and the risks
could actually be lower or higher;
nevertheless, our schools and their close
proximity to industry has been a concern for
many people in Corpus Christi for decades
and this report supports many other reports
that suggest that children are particularly
vulnerable to pollution –

Please join us at 5:30PM Wednesday, February 11th at Texas A&M
University-Corpus Christi in Bay Hall 103. We must make the health of
our children, teachers and staff a priority and work together toward
solutions.

For questions, please call: Suzie Canales 334-6764

Link to report:
http://content.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/smokestack/index.

CFEJ Granted Standing

Resident, environment group OK to testify

Next hearing on Flint Hills issue is set for April

By Fanny S. Chirinos Originally published 12:00 a.m., February 4, 2009Updated 12:20 a.m., February 4, 2009

Flint Hills Resources’ consolidation permit would roll several existing permits into one and remove emissions caps on individual refinery units.

CORPUS CHRISTI — A local resident and an environmental group have received standing to give testimony during Flint Hills Resources’ quest to consolidate several permits into one, an administrative law judge ruled on Tuesday. They will plead their case in April before the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

Jim Miller, who lives half a mile from the company’s West Plant, was given standing in Flint Hills’ permit request to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, allowing him to testify in permit process hearings.

The consolidation permit, filed with the commission on Aug. 9, 2006, would roll several existing permits into one and remove emissions caps on individual units throughout the refinery. The proposed permit instead would allow for a cap to be set on specific contaminants released from the entire plant.

The permit doesn’t call for new construction or equipment. The consolidation permitting process typically takes six to 12 months, but having it contested has slowed the process.

Flint Hills has completed capital expansions and acquisitions worth more than $3.2 billion since 2002. Company officials announced in 2008 a $250 million project at its West Plant that won’t add to its refining capacity but will increase the amount of low-sulfur diesel fuel it can produce.

The consolidation permit is not related to any of the projects. All the projects included in the permit have been authorized and completed, said Katie Stavinoha, a Flint Hills spokeswoman.
The company employs about 900 in Corpus Christi and about 3,700 companywide. Both its plants in the Corpus Christi complex are U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration Voluntary Protection Programs Star sites and have an annual payroll of more than $104 million.

Thomas H. Walston, the administrative law judge, also found that Corpus Christi-based Citizens for Environmental Justice, a grassroots organization to which Miller is a member, had standing. Other members of the group might be called to testify at the next hearing scheduled for April 7-9 in Austin.

The judge found that Miller had a stake in the process because he lives near the refinery, the consolidation permit would reauthorize ammonia emissions and the commission has historically considered that a person living within one mile of a facility may be affected by its emissions.

“So even though the proposed permit may not call for increased emissions, the referred issues concern whether the use of emission factors and the monitoring requirements are sufficient to verify compliance with existing emission limits,” the judge stated in documents filed Tuesday.

Contact Fanny S. Chirinos at 886-3759 or chirinosf@caller.com

Article on Koch Permit Hearing

Caller.com Corpus Christi News and Information

Judge to consider dispute over Flint Hills permit

Refinery neighbor testifies about lung problems

By Fanny S. Chirinos Tuesday, January 6, 2009

CORPUS CHRISTI — A refinery row resident testified Tuesday before an administrative law judge that emissions from Flint Hills Resources' West Plant might have affected his now-damaged lungs. The judge must now determine if the resident has a standing in the refinery's quest for a consolidation permit.

James C. Miller gave a statement before Judge Thomas H. Walston during the preliminary hearing in the case of the refinery's request to consolidate several existing air permits into one. Miller opposes the consolidation because it would allow some units to release more emissions into the atmosphere.

The consolidation permit, filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Aug. 9, 2006, would allow Flint Hills to upgrade equipment and install controls to reduce nitrogen oxide, a process that increases emissions of carbon monoxide.

Air permit 8803A also removes emissions caps on individual units throughout the refinery. The proposed permit instead allows for a cap to be set on specific contaminants released from the entire plant. The permit doesn't call for new construction or equipment.

The consolidation permitting process typically takes six to 12 months, but having it contested has slowed the process, said TCEQ spokeswoman Andrea Morrow.

Miller has lived on Tuloso Road about half a mile from the West Plant for the past 25 years and requested a hearing through a grassroots environmental group of which he is a member, Corpus Christi-based Citizens for Environmental Justice. He carries a portable oxygen tank wherever he goes.

"I never smoked and never drank," Miller said. "I've had stuff swimming in my pool and (the refinery) has enough stuff going in the air now. There has been residue on cars that the company has paid to have washed off. When bells and whistles go off, they don't inform their neighbors. I'm concerned that emissions will be released."

Miller said his wife, Roberta, taught at a school that once sat across the street from his house and has developed sarcoidosis, a disease affecting her lungs. When she taught there, his wife would come home to find Miller having trouble breathing, he testified.

"She would tell me the school had to shelter in place that day," Miller said. "(Teachers) would shut the windows and doors, turn off the AC and not let the kids go outside. But the refinery didn't let the neighbors know about it. We were never told to shelter in place."

Christopher C. Thiele with the Houston-based law firm of Vinson and Elkins, one of the refiner's attorneys, argued that Miller had no standing because his comments had been made by way of Citizens for Environmental Justice, which the Texas Secretary of State's office dissolved in November. The group has lost the ability to carry on affairs, he added.

Thiele also said the group's protest of the permit held no merit.

"Although there will be units releasing more emission, most of the units will be decreasing the number of emissions released," he said.

The environmental group's lawyer countered that the organization continues to conduct business and it doesn't need to be an incorporated entity to have standing in the case.

"I think we're just playing word games," said Enrique Valdivia with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.

Attorneys for both sides have until Jan. 16 to submit written arguments and responses are due by Jan. 23.

CFEJ 2008 Year in Review!

It was another incredible year; 2008 had several landmark moments, victories and successes!

The year started off with a bang: I was deposed by CITGO! The deposition took place at the federal courthouse before Judge Rainey. The subject was federal jury tampering (remember the fly?)....just as ridiculous as when CITGO accused me of being a terrorist a couple of years ago -

The last in the series of birth defects studies was released early in the year and the refineries and other sites of concern were NOT let off the hook. Sadly, several defects are high here in Corpus Christi, compared to the rest of the state of Texas and this study, along with all the other studies, could not eliminate our sites of concern as contributing to our high rates of defects. These studies that CFEJ initiated several years ago have brought about a tremendous awareness of birth defects, not only in Corpus Christi, but in the state and nation.

CITGO continued to break the law in '08. One example was February 22nd event when hot oil spewed across several neighborhoods. CITGO handed out car wash tickets and said nothing hazardous was released, and TCEQ concurred saying that they would not investigate. It was only after CFEJ went out with the media to conduct our own investigation and took wipe samples from cars, did TCEQ say they'd investigate as well. Their results supported ours: high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including carcinogens were detected in the samples and the TCEQ slapped CITGO with an enforcement action. (there was also the event last New Years day when CITGO had a tremendous release and withheld information, was late in reporting...well....I only have so much room here...but CITGO continues to be CITGO).

The pre-sentencing hearing was riveting and heart wrenching to hear the testimony of numerous witnesses who suffered at the hands of CITGO for so long...

Dr. Melissa Jarrell and I were honored to travel up to Niagara Falls, New York early August to be part of the Love Canal 30th Anniversary! It was incredible. After a fantastic press conference at Love Canal we went on a toxic tour given by Lois Gibbs herself! The parallels between Hillcrest and Love Canal are remarkable...

Our landmark blood and urine study was released. First of its kind in the nation. Not surprisingly, the study found extremely high levels of VOCs, including benzene in the people studied in Hillcrest and high levels of VOCs in the children studied. You would have thought that there would have been an outcry from the city government and others, but there wasn't, thanks to the millions of dollars in hush money that industry provides...

We are particularly concerned for the unsuspecting and innocent children and I think the video will reflect some of that concern.

Many friends died this year before they could see justice. We will miss them all.

These are just some of the highlights of 2008 and 2009 promises to be explosive!

Link: 2008 CFEJ Year in Review! (B&W photos by Peter Essick)

Coming Soon: 2008 Year in Review!!

Stay tuned!