What?: DEP has opened public comment on the air quality permit it intends to issue for the Texas Eastern Uniontown Compressor Station. This is a rare opportunity to tell DEP what you think about compressor station air pollution.

When/Where: Fayette Marcellus Watch and Mountain Watershed held a Public Meeting to present information on this issue on Monday, January 20, 2014, 7-9pm, East End United Community Center, 150 Coolspring Street, Uniontown, Pennsylvania 15401. We were also on WMBS Radio, 590AM, Friday, 1/17/2014 from 1:15 to 2:45. To view the slide presentation from the meeting, click here.

Why Does It Matter?: Compressor stations are a significant source of air pollution. Compressing the gas requires large engines, which are typically powered by natural gas. Emissions from gas-fired compression engines are somewhat similar to emissions from diesel engines. Picture a lot full of 18-wheelers idling at full throttle 24x7. Emissions from compressor stations can include nitrogen oxides, hazardous air pollutants, formaldehyde, and other hydrocarbons that are known to cause cancer or be dangerous to health.

Several families who live close to compressor stations have suffered serious health problems, including rashes (both outside the body and inside in places like the nose), nosebleeds, vertigo, neurological problems, toxins that have shown up in the blood, and hearing loss.

What Do I Need to Do?: Come to the public meeting and we will provide information and have envelopes for you to send your comment to the DEP. For Mountain Watershed’s Fact Sheet on this, click here. Or, you may send your comments via:

“Each protest or set of written comments must contain the name, address and telephone number of the person submitting the comments, identification of the proposed Plan Approval (PA-26-00413B) and concise statements regarding the relevancy of the information or objections to issuance of the Plan Approval.” ('Plan Approval' is DEP-speak for an Air Quality Permit.)

Deadline: Comments must be received by Monday, February 3, 2014.

Where is it?: Uniontown Compressor Station is located at latitude/longitude 39.934301,-79.671661 <http://osm.org/go/ZWpyxU4u--?m=>.

What is “TEAM 2014”?: This is the name Texas Eastern has given for a segment of its upgrade project for its major interstate natural gas transmission pipeline. It stands for “Texas Eastern Appalachia to Market”. This project is before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under Docket CP13-84. The documents for this docket are all available on-line here:
<http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/docket_sheet.asp?docket=CP13-84&Subdocket=000>
(See below for Texas Eastern’s map of the TEAM 2014 Project.)

What is the legal definition of air pollution? “The presence in the outdoor atmosphere of any form of contaminant, including, but not limited to, the discharging from stacks, chimneys, openings, buildings, structures, open fires, vehicles, processes or any other source of any smoke, soot, fly ash, dust, cinders, dirt, noxious or obnoxious acids, fumes, oxides, gases, vapors, odors, toxic, hazardous or radioactive substances, waste or other matter in a place, manner or concentration inimical or which may be inimical to public health, safety or welfare or which is or may be injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property or which unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.” (25 Pa. Code § 121.1.) [Emphasis added.]

How much pollution is DEP proposing to allow Uniontown Compressor Station to Emit? “Facility-wide potential to emit (PTE) as a result of this project will be 81.51 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx), 51.79 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), 48.5 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOC), 5.75 tons of particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10), 5.75 tons of particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5), 2.90 tons of sulfur oxides (SOx), 0.38 ton of formaldehyde, 5.06 tons of total hazardous air pollutants (HAP), and 129,851 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) per year.”

Where do all these tons per year of pollution go? What happens to them? What happens to people nearby? Good questions. DEP is doing a rather poor job of answering them. That’s one reason why we need to tell DEP what we think about this!

What should I talk about in my comment? (I’m not an expert on air pollution!) You may not be an expert on air pollution, but you are certainly an expert on your own life and your family’s life. If you have experience of life near a compressor station, or experience of the kind of emissions a compressor station can yield, tell the DEP about it. These people do not themselves live nearby these facilities they authorize to spew countless chemicals into the air; their lives are not affected. If you don’t have experience of life near a compressor station, explain to the DEP what clean air means to you in your life. Especially tell the DEP what your concerns are regarding the effect of air pollution on children. Children are much more sensitive than adults to all forms of chemical exposure. So-called “safe” exposure limits to chemicals are often formulated for adults, not children. Think about the legal definition of air pollution above, and tell the DEP your story in your own words about why you are concerned about air pollution. Also:

IMPORTANT!: In your comment, request a hearing. If enough people request a hearing, DEP will hold one and we can tell DEP and Texas Eastern face to face what we think about this.

Background: For those willing to dig into the details, here is where to find the documents:

Mountain Watershed Fact Sheet
Fayette Marcellus Watch Presentation on Texas Eastern Uniontown Compressor Station
Fayette County Public Comments on this permit
PA Bulletin Notice for the proposed permit
DEP eFACTS Authorization Record for this permit application
FERC Docket for the TEAM 2014 Project
Fayette County Citizen Comment on Scoping of the Environmental Assessment for the TEAM 2014 Project Uniontown Compressor Station
Fayette County Citizen Comment on the TEAM 2014 Environmental Assessment Uniontown Compressor Station
Clean Air Council Comments on the TEAM 2014 Environmental Assessment
DEP File Review documents: