Yet 6 of the 9 major industrial plants in the parish had increases in toxic emissions
Despite an increase in toxic emissions by six of the nine major industrial plants in St. John the Baptist Parish, overall pollution was down in 2009 compared with the previous year, according to a report issued by the St. John Industrial Group.
View full sizeIn March of 2010, Marathon Petroleum Company had completed a $3.9 billion expansion of its Garyville plant.The figures, released last month as required by the Environmental Protection Agency, show that pollutants to the parish's land, air and water totaled nearly 3.5 million pounds in 2009, a 23 percent drop from the 4.5 million pounds reported in 2008.
The emissions include such chemicals as ammonia, chlorine, formaldehyde and sulfur dioxide from the group of plants that include Air Products, with locations in Garyville and Reserve; ArcelorMittal; DPC Enterprises; DuPont Elastomers; DuPont; Evonik Industries; Marathon Petroleum; and Nalco Co. The plants are located in LaPlace, Reserve and Garyville.
The plants are some of the parish's major employers, and manufacture products ranging from those used in household items such as laundry detergents, liquid soap and tennis shoes, to those used in steel highway rails and bulletproof vests.
The industries have been required to release their emissions data every year since the mid-1980s.
One of the plants with the largest percentage increase in emissions was the Nalco Co. in Garyville, a water treatment and management facility.
Although Nalco saw a decrease in its air and water emissions, the slow economy was blamed for the overall 10.8 percent increase in pollutants. The substantial jump was the result of the company's off-site discharge of surplus inventory, said plant manager Carl Pasquarelli.
"2009 was an awful year economically in terms of inventory that we couldn't sell," Pasquarelli said. "We had to get rid of it. We're certainly not expecting that to happen this year."
Pasquarelli said most of that inventory was acrylic polymer, a chemical used in its water treatment process.
For Nalco, the off-site emissions increased 11 percent in 2009, going from 174,130 pounds in 2008 to 194,287 pounds last year. Overall, the company's 2009 emissions increased to 201,832 pounds compared with 182,179 in 2008, according to the report.
Conversely, it was the huge decrease in ArcelorMittal's off-site emissions that contributed to the overall drop in emissions reported by the nine plants.
ArcelorMittal, which purchased the Bayou Steel plant in LaPlace in 2008, reported the highest percentage drop in emissions.
The steelmaker reported a 35.5 percent decrease in total emissions, the largest boost coming from a reduction of 1,065.4 pounds in its off-site emissions in 2009. In 2008, the company, which employs 450 people, reported 2,989.4 pounds of off-site emissions that includes "shredded fluff," containing zinc.
The shredded material included foam and fabric from automobile seats, dashboards and other plastic parts from vehicles and appliances, according to the report.
Littice Bacon-Blood can be reached at lbacon-blood@timespicayune.com or 985.652.0951.