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TCEQ refers Marathon/Marathon El Paso refinery permit to contested-case hearing after El Paso County request
Summary
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality granted El Paso County's hearing request and referred Marathon/Western Refining's permit renewal and amendment (permit 18897) to the State Office of Administrative Hearings and the commission's ADR program for up to 180 days to resolve disputes about modeling, emissions accounting and nuisance risks.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality voted June 3 to grant El Paso County's request for a contested-case hearing and to refer Marathon/Western Refining's renewal and amendment of air permit 18897 to the State Office of Administrative Hearings and the commission's alternative dispute resolution program for a 180-day proceeding.
The referral followed staff findings that the county demonstrated affectedness through statutory inspection authority and a property interest in Ascarate Park, roughly a half-mile from the refinery, and that its comments raised relevant, material issues concerning air quality protectiveness, nuisance potential, emissions estimates and dispersion modeling. The commission specified three issues to refer: whether authorized admissions under the draft permit will protect human health and property; whether the draft permit prevents nuisance conditions under 30 TAC §101.4; and whether the application contains accurate and complete air-quality analysis and emissions estimates.
A staffer read a letter into the record on behalf of State Representative Vincent Perez urging the commission to grant a contested case. The letter said, in part, “Real emission increases are being characterized as no increase,” and urged adversarial review because the community, already designated nonattainment for particulate matter, deserves public scrutiny of consolidations made by permit by rule and standard-permit authorizations. The letter also cited the refinery's compliance history and EPA Toxic Release Inventory figures as reasons for careful review.
Office of Public Interest Counsel staff had recommended granting the county's hearing request and identified issues including whether emissions-calculation methodologies are flawed or outdated and whether relevant amendment documents were available for public review. Commissioners noted those concerns and agreed ADR should run concurrently with SOAH scheduling.
The motion to grant El Paso County's request and refer the permitting issues passed unanimously. The commission also denied remaining hearing requests and requests for reconsideration related to this permit application.
Next steps: the matter will proceed to the State Office of Administrative Hearings under the 180-day schedule adopted by the commission, with ADR available in parallel.
