Tar Sands Expansion will Triple Global-warming Gases, Increase Pollution

American Bottom Conservancy and Sierra Club today filed a Petition for Review of the air permit issued by Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to ConocoPhillips to expand its Wood River, Illinois, refinery in order to process heavy crude oil derived from Canadian tar sands.

The massive refinery expansion signals an alarming trend in the U.S. away from conventional light crude oil to the use of cheaper and dirtier tar sands, resulting in triple the global-warming gases and increases in regional air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, volatile organic materials, and sulfur oxides. The increased pollution is harmful to the environment and to human health, especially that of young children.

Even before the expansion, the Greater St. Louis region, where the refinery is located, failed to meet federal air quality standards for ozone and fine particulates. The Petition argues that IEPA ignored procedures required to ensure full public participation and should have required stronger controls at the refinery.

“Getting gasoline from heavy crude oil is a dirtier process at every stage - from getting out of the ground in Canada, to refining it here in our community, to burning it in our cars. We suggested major improvements to this permit that would minimize the pollution and better protect the public health, but Illinois EPA did not include these changes in the air pollution permit they issued,” said Kathy Andria, president of American Bottom Conservancy and a member of the Illinois Sierra Club Clean Air Campaign. “This permit is extremely complicated, and it has major consequences for local air quality. Illinois EPA needs to do a better job listening to those who live near big polluters, and take our concerns into account when they issue these licenses to pollute the air we breathe.”

ConocoPhillips, the third largest oil producer in the country, had record profits last year. A special Internal Revenue Code tax provision allows a refinery to write off half the entire cost of an expansion project the very first year it is in operation. “Why wouldn't they install modern pollution controls?" asked Andria. "Why wouldn't they protect our children?"

The tar sands lie below an area of pristine Canadian wilderness in Alberta the size of Florida, which would be profoundly damaged by its extraction, an energy-intensive process releasing great amounts of carbon dioxide that is currently threatening Canada's ability to fulfill its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. The respected Pembina Institute of Canada also submitted comments on the Illinois permit.

"The consequences-be-darned approach to unconstrained Alberta tar sands oil extraction and usage will wreak havoc on the environment, both in Canada and the U.S. and to the world,” said Verena Owen, Clean Air Campaign Chair of the Illinois Sierra Club. “We can't drill and refine our way out of global warming.”

“I had hoped that ConocoPhillips would treat our community with respect and upgrade to a first-class refinery,” said Gayle Borman, a retired refinery worker and Sierra Club member who lives in Wood River near the plant. “There are safer, cleaner methods available to ConocoPhillips, but they aren't using them. I expect Illinois EPA to require the best pollution controls, not settle for less.”

The Petition was filed with the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Appeals Board in Washington, D.C., by Senior Attorney Ann Alexander of National Resources Defense Council's Midwest Office, representing American Bottom Conservancy, and Attorney Karla Raettig of the Environmental Integrity Project, representing Sierra Club.

The Environmental Integrity Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established by former EPA enforcement attorneys to advocate for more effective enforcement of environmental laws. It has been helping refinery communities fight pollution and injustice since its inception in 2002. EIP retained a technical consultant to advise the two organizations on the permit. Said Raettig: “Unfortunately, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency turned a blind eye to many of these impacts and issued a permit that fails to fully comply with the law. We are stepping in to do the job Illinois EPA should have done to protect the environment and the people who live there.”