Transcript Administrative Rules Oversight Committee IDEM Approval of BP’s NPDES Permit August 22, 2007 Thomas W.

Administrative Rules Oversight
Committee
IDEM Approval of BP’s NPDES Permit
August 22, 2007
Thomas W. Easterly, P.E., DEE, QEP
Commissioner
IN Department of Environmental Management
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IDEM’s Mission
IDEM is responsible for protecting
human health and the environment
while providing for safe industrial,
agricultural, commercial and
governmental operations vital to a
prosperous economy.
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How Does IDEM Protect the
Environment?
Measure the air, water and land to determine
the existing state of the environment
Compare the measured values to levels that
protect human health and the environment



Ambient Air Quality Standards
Water Quality Standards
Remediation of contaminated sites
Use modeling to determine how much of a
substance can be safely added to the
environment
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How Does IDEM Protect the
Environment?
Develop regulations and issue permits to
restrict discharges to the environment to safe
levels
Inspect and monitor permitted facilities to
ensure compliance with the permits
Enforce against people who exceed their
permit levels or violate regulations
Educate people on their environmental
responsibilities
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Need for a Permit
Every facility that discharges into
surface waters is required to obtain a
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) permit.
5
Priorities Used to Grant the
Permit
Issuance of the BP permit was part of an
ongoing process to renew and update all
NPDES permits to meet new, more stringent
state and federal requirements.
In BP’s case, the company also asked to modify
its permit to accommodate the planned
expansion to refine crude oil from Canada.
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Permit Limits, Requirements
Permit limits are set to meet:
Water quality standards to protect aquatic life,
drinking water and recreation
 Technology standards consistently applied each
type of industry

Permits also contain requirements such as:

Whole effluent toxicity testing
If the applicant meets all legal and regulatory
requirements, the permit must be issued.
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BP NPDES Permit
No exceptions were made with BP’s
wastewater permit which is protective of
drinking water, recreation and aquatic life in
Lake Michigan
BP’s permitted discharge levels are
established at or below current stringent
water quality standards.
With the new permit, BP will be able to
process Canadian Heavy Crude derived from
tar sands.
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Public Outreach
IDEM considers all stakeholders when making
a permit decision. We respond to all comments
received and include the responses in the fact
sheet before making the final permit decision.
In January, 2007, IDEM, EPA and BP
commenced an extraordinary outreach to and
consultation with the Northwest Indiana
environmental community during the
development of the final draft permit
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Public Outreach
A public comment period on the draft
permit was offered from March 16 to May
11, 2007.
A public meeting held in Whiting on April
26, 2007—attended by BP representatives,
the environmental community and one
citizen.
IDEM received and responded to
comments from 46 people before issuing
the final permit on June 21, 2007.
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Public Outreach
IDEM coordinated with EPA to ensure
compliance with the Clean Water Act. On
April 5, 2007, EPA issued a written notice of
no objection concerning the BP Permit.
The 18-day appeal period for the permit
ended on July 9, 2007 and no appeal was
filed within that period. The permit effective
date is August 1, 2007 and the permit expires
July 31, 2012.
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BP’s Wastewater Treatment
Process
All wastewater is fully treated in a complex
treatment plant with 7 separate treatment
stages before being released 3,500 feet
from shoreline
BP discharges 21.4 million gallons of
treated wastewater per day
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SURGE
TANK
5050
API
SEPERATOR
(#7 SEP)
27 BAY
2 STAGE
(24 IN USE)
EQL.
TANK
5051
DISOLVED
AIR
FLOATATION
UNIT
7 BAY
2 STAGE
CLARIFIER
5005
STAGE 2
AERATION
TANK
5002
SPLITTER
BOX
5003
CLARIFIER
5004
FINAL
FILTERS
(8 TOTAL)
STAGE 1
AERATION
TANK
5001
GRIT CHAMBER
REFINERY
WASTEWATER
BAR SCREEN
BP Amoco Whiting
Wastewater Treatment Plant
FIRE WATER
AND
COOLING
TOWER
MAKE-UP
WATER
EFFLUENT
TO THE
LAKE
Putting the numbers in perspective
Water and wastewater standards are typically
expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l).
Wastewater with 1 mg/l of material left in it is
99.9999% pure water
1 mg/l is 1 part per million (ppm).
1 ppm equates to about 6 people of the state’s 6.2
million population
Mercury limits are much lower—1.3 millionth of a
part per million (parts per trillion) or less than one
hundredth of a person on earth.
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BP NPDES Permit--TSS
Total Suspended Solids (TSS) are not
sludge.
BP’s TSS discharge is comparable to the
TSS discharge of a small city
There are no other technologies known to
further remove TSS
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BP NPDES Permit--TSS
The new permit allows an increase in
TSS from the existing limit of 3,646
lbs/day to 4,925 lbs/day
At this level, the discharge will contain
27.6 mg/l of TSS, less than the typical
30 mg/l limit imposed on many
municipal treatment plants.
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BP NPDES Permit--Ammonia
The new permit allows an increase in ammonia
from the existing limit of 1,030 lbs/day up to
1,584 lbs/day.
The new permitted level is half of permissible
maximums (technology-based effluent limit is
3,358 lbs/day, water quality based effluent limit
is 3,215 lbs/day.)
The calculated concentration of ammonia in the
lake at the discharge is 0.28 mg/l, which is well
below the lowest permissible effluent limit of
0.48 mg/l
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Comparison to Recently
Proposed Illinois Refinery Permit
Illinois
Proposal
BP Permit
AMMONIA
(lb/thousand
barrels/day)
5.47
3.77
TSS (mg/l)
34.1
27.6
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BP NPDES Permit -- Mercury
The permit restricts BP’s discharge to the
Great Lakes Water Quality Limit of 1.3 parts
per trillion.
As allowed by law, BP has up to five years to
meet this standard.
BP will not discharge more mercury when it
reconfigures the refinery.
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Drinking Water
There is no drinking water standard for ammonia.
There is a total nitrogen (N) standard for Nitrate plus
Nitrite of 10 mg/l and a Nitrite standard of 1 mg/l.
The BP permit restricts the ammonia N to 0.28 mg/l
in the lake (including a background value of 0.05
mg/l).
Chlorination, which is required for drinking water
supplied from surface water, destroys ammonia.
There is no drinking water standard for total
suspended solids—surface water is filtered.
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Recreational Use
Beach closings and swimming advisories are
caused by high levels of bacteria in the water.
The high levels are normally caused by
discharges of untreated sewage, typically
during periods of high rain fall.
The BP facility does not discharge bacteria.
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Aquatic Life
Aquatic life, including fish, is fully
protected by the permit limits on
ammonia and mercury.
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Thank You—Questions
Tom Easterly
100 N. Senate Ave. IGCN 1301
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 232-8611
Fax (317) 233-6647
[email protected]
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