Motiva Enterprises Delaware
Once operated under Motiva Enterprises, the oil refinery in Delaware City, Delaware, changed hands several times over the course of its 53-year history. Motiva Enterprises traded the refinery to Premcor, Inc., in 2004, and one year later, in 2005, Valero Energy Corp. acquired the refinery.
The Delaware City Refinery was given a Corrective Action Permit in 2003 that required the refinery to take active steps in remedying its environmental impact. Reports dating from 1995 showed that the oil refinery deposited toxins into the soil and groundwater of the surrounding area, posing a threat to both the environment and to the health of those living nearby.
Toxins found by the EPA during its survey of the groundwater and soil near the refinery included benzene, heavy metals, oil hydrocarbons, xylene, toluene and ethyl benzene. Contamination appeared to only lie in the groundwater and soils directly beneath the oil refinery property and had not leeched into surface or drinking water reservoirs.
With the closure of the refinery, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has taken over assessment of the cleanup of the site.
End of an Era
November 22, 2009, Valero announced to its employees at the Delaware City Refinery that the plant would close at the end of December of that year. The owner at the time, Valero, blamed the 2009 recession and falling demand for oil as the causes of the $1-million-per-day losses incurred by the Delaware City Refinery prior to its closing. A large contributor to the oil industry, Delaware City Refinery refined 210,000 barrels of oil daily. Its closing marked the shuttering of the largest US refinery to date for 2009.
Asbestos in the Motiva Enterprises Oil Refinery
Whenever flame or heat was a risk, the mineral called asbestos was the insulation preferred by builders in much of the last century. Asbestos-containing materials, therefore, were frequently used in the construction of facilities like the Motiva Enterprises oil refinery. One of the other properties of some forms of asbestos is that they are unaffected by chemical reactions. Due to the kind of work that occurs in oil refineries, asbestos, therefore, was not only used in factory buildings, but also in lab equipment, bench and counter tops and protective clothes. And although the asbestos worked well in safeguarding against the spread of fire and in protecting people from high temperatures, the mineral also exposed people who used it or worked around it to significant health risks.
Generally, amosite was the kind of asbestos utilized. The brownish pigment associated with amosite comes from iron molecules in its chemical composition; this also causes amosite to be resistant to corrosive substances like those used in plants like the Motiva Enterprises oil refinery. Although it was outlawed as a construction material in the 1970s, this amosite, in the form of asbestos transite, appeared for many years in labs, oil refineries and chemical plants throughout the United States.
Like cement, asbestos transite could be molded into working surfaces, sprayed onto ductwork and pipes and laminated. As long as asbestos transite was solid, this form of asbestos offered no immediate risk. Microscopic particles of asbestos enter into the atmosphere, however, as asbestos-containing transite ages and becomes prone to becoming powdery. That is, such asbestos is friable, which translates to easily pulverized. In addition, laboratory and chemical plant ovens almost always were constructed with friable asbestos in insulation linings.
Why Is Friable Asbestos Bad?
Friable asbestos is dangerous because in this condition the particles are easily released into the atmosphere. Diseases like asbestosis and cancer are known to result from the inhalation of asbestos. Another uncommon, but generally lethal, disease linked to asbestos is mesothelioma. The pleural form of mesothelioma, which attacks the lining between the lungs and the chest cavity, is the most common. Ingestion of asbestos fibers, as can occur if those tiny fibers become airborne and settle on food or drinks, can result in peritoneal or pericardial mesothelioma.
During the last twenty years scientists and researchers have uncovered much information about the risks that accompany asbestos exposure, and therefore there are stringent rules controlling its use. Asbestos use was more common, however, when places like the Motiva Enterprises oil refinery were first operating. Any asbestos remaining from that period may still pose a health hazard if people are not careful during demolition and remodeling projects.
The Hidden Hazard of Asbestos
As opposed to typical workplace injuries, which are easily observed and known about soon after the incident, asbestos-related diseases may take ten, twenty, or even thirty years to appear. The symptoms of asbestos-related diseases - a persistent cough and dyspnea - may easily be confused with the symptoms of other, less serious conditions. It is vital, therefore, that everyone that worked in or lived near places like the Motiva Enterprises oil refinery ask their physicians For mesothelioma information. In addition, all those who shared homes with these people are also in danger; unless strict decontamination protocols, including using on-site uniforms and showers, were in place, it was all too easy for personnel to bring asbestos dust on their persons or their clothes. Occasionally, the cancer can be treated with mesothelioma surgery.
Sources
Dnrec.state.de.us - Motiva Enterprises LLC.
http://www.dnrec.state.de.us/dnrec2000/Divisions/AWM/hw/hw/pdf/Motiva%20Enterprises.pdf
EPA.gov - Delaware City Refinery (Formerly: Motiva Enterprises)
http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/ca/de/pdf/ded002329738.pdf
University of Wisconsin - Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) - Laboratories and Shops
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/ASB/acmimages3.html
University of Wisconsin - Asbestos Disposal
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/HAZEXCEPTIONS/a.html
Lauren Wilson - Valero closing Delaware City refinery
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/business&id=7129494
