EPA’S AGGRESSIVE PUSH ON REFINERIES FOR STRICTER BENZENE CONTROLS
David Wall, PE, Director of Refinery Sector Services — Chicago, IL
The BWON regulation dates back to an initial promulgation in 1990 and has not been significantly revised since 1993; however, compliance expectations have been reshaped as a result of a concerted U.S. EPA enforcement effort in the early 2000s. The enforcement initiative resulted in companies representing greater than 95% of total U.S. petroleum refining capacity entering into largely identical “global” consent decrees. Among the requirements of these new consent decrees were a set of enhanced requirements specific to BWON compliance. In this set of consent decrees, U.S. EPA focused largely on ensuring that applicable sites were properly identify and characterizing all waste streams. Facilities were required to engage third parties to verify their waste stream lists and quantification as well as the adequacy of outside laboratories used to provide waste stream characterization data. Facilities implemented enhanced management of change (MOC) processes focused on identifying any new or modified benzene-containing waste streams or equipment changes that could impact BWON controls compliance. Facilities also prepared end of line (EOL) programs that utilized downstream waste/wastewater sampling as a rough verification of the accuracy of upstream TAB quantifications. While this series of consent decrees
U.S. EPA published an enforcement alert in February – “Violations at Petroleum Refineries and Ethylene Plants Cause Excess Benzene and Other VOC Emissions in Nearby Communities.” This alert summarizes what has been a renewed Benzene Waster Operations NESHAP (BWON) [40 CFR 61 Subpart FF] enforcement initiative which dates back more than two years. Refineries and Chemical plants are in the midst of a new enforcement wave, bringing with it new U.S. EPA interpretations and enhanced focus areas. The result of this enforcement effort looks to be a new round of “global” consent decrees that will set new standards for compliance across the industry. History of BWON Enforcement Generally, the BWON applies to all petroleum refineries and chemical plants (a source category which is broadly defined). All subject facilities are required to account, at least initially, for the Total Annual Benzene (TAB) mass contained in waste and wastewater streams generated by the facility. Depending on the magnitude of the TAB (greater than or less than 10 megagrams [Mg]), facilities are also subject to various control requirements and associated monitoring and inspection requirements.
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