Don’t Let the Marcus Hook Terminal Pollute the Delaware River

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Comments are due Monday, November 13th.

Subject: PAR000538058

Suggested Comment:

The Marcus Hook Terminal converted to a natural gas liquid (NGL) export facility after the Marcus Hook Refinery was idled in 2011. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has proposed to renew the Marcus Hook Terminal’s 10-year Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Part B hazardous waste storage permit, but there are still several unanswered questions associated with the storage and release of hazardous waste at this facility. The Marcus Hook Terminal is located in a community identified by DEP as an Environmental Justice (EJ) area.

While refinery operations ceased at the facility in 2011, Marcus Hook Terminal continues to store hazardous waste associated with oil refining, even though RCRA and DEP specify that hazardous wastes should not be stored at the facility for over a year. Energy Transfer and Marketing Terminals L.P. (the Terminal’s owner) claims that the oil-water separator that still contains hazardous wastes related to oil refining remained functioning after the refinery was closed and that the one year storage limit only takes effect when the waste is removed from the separator. Energy Transfer failed to mention in its response to Clean Air Council’s comments that RCRA also prevents the storage of hazardous waste “90 days after the unit ceases to be operated for manufacturing, or for storage or transportation of product or raw materials.” The oil water separator is not used for manufacturing, storage or transportation and should have been cleaned of refinery waste within one year of the refinery closing. This waste contains significant amounts of the known carcinogen benzene. And even if the water oil separator was considered to be used for manufacturing, storage or transportation purposes, Energy Transfer must account for how long the oil separator remained functioning after the refinery was idled and for what reason, in order to justify the continued storage of refinery-related hazardous wastes.

Similarly, Energy Transfer has a troubling record of allowing out of service storage tanks to pollute soil and groundwater at the site for extremely long periods of time, well beyond RCRA’s 90-day deadline to remove hazardous waste from out-of-use storage facilities. DEP permitted at least three large storage tanks containing hazardous waste related to oil refining (Tanks 137, 249 and 598) to be classified as “temporarily out of service” from January 2013 to July 2022, and in one instance January 2023. In July, August and September 2023, DEP rejected site characterization reports related to the soil and groundwater contamination caused by the three storage tanks, all because Energy Transfer had not actually removed the tanks and could not fully assess the extent of dangerous contaminants like benzene as well as lead and naphthalene, both of which are known to damage organs like the liver and brain. DEP acknowledges that groundwater flows off the site in the direction of the Delaware River and in some cases, very shallow groundwater is present in the areas of the leaking tanks, which could cause increased groundwater pollution. Energy Transfer and DEP have allowed these out of service storage tanks to pollute the Delaware River for over a decade. DEP should not renew Energy Transfer’s 10-year waste storage permit until these tanks and any associated hazardous waste are removed from the facility. Energy Transfer has been storing hazardous waste related to oil refining, including leaded tank bottoms, for over a decade after refining operations ended at the facility. This has led to easily avoidable contamination of soil and groundwater and eventually the Delaware River. 

Specifically regarding Tank 598, Energy Transfer’s reports indicate that the extended out-of-service time may have allowed migration of contaminants into the Delaware River. Energy Transfer reported in 2013 that a monitoring well 25 feet south of Tank 598 recorded levels of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) concentrations above DEP’s statewide health standards and then reported that MTBE concentrations were recorded below DEP’s standards in 2022. MTBE was phased out of gasoline in the United States in the late 2000s because of concerns regarding groundwater contamination, Although MTBE degrades quickly in the air, it is easily absorbed into water. According to the U.S. Department of Interior, “MTBE generally resists degradation in groundwater.” If MTBE concentrations were at first above standards and then below them nearly 10 years later, the contamination had to migrate somewhere, and the groundwater in this area flows to the Delaware River. Over the last decade, Energy Transfer has likely permitted MTBE to travel into the Delaware River via groundwater in order to avoid dismantling Tank 598 and removing soil and groundwater contamination caused by this leaking, unused storage tank. Energy Transfer should not be allowed to escape consequences for impermissibly contaminating soil and groundwater to cut costs.    

Further supporting this dangerous history of inadequate storage tank maintenance, DEP issued a violation to Energy Transfer after an August 2023 inspection of yet another out-of-service storage tank. A DEP-certified inspector found Tank 246A to be deteriorating in several ways that could easily cause further soil and groundwater contamination. DEP should increase storage tank inspections at this facility given this record of contamination and permit violations, which is even more vital because of the facility’s location in a DEP-recognized EJ area. 

Finally, DEP must require Energy Transfer to account for its intentional releases of possibly hazardous waste into the Delaware River from stormwater Tank 101. Because of the likelihood that any stormwater that accumulates onsite could contain hazardous waste, Energy Transfer stores all stormwater that gathers onsite in Tank 101 so it can be treated. However, Energy Transfer’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit allows it to discharge likely contaminated stormwater directly into the Delaware River when Tank 101 becomes full during heavy precipitation events. Energy Transfer claims that because this is permitted under the facility’s NPDES permit, it is not required to document these releases. But Energy Transfer’s proposed RCRA permit still requires it to report a, “potential release of any hazardous waste from the facility that may endanger public drinking water supply sources,” within 24-hours. Given the facility’s location in a recognized EJ area directly on the Delaware River, DEP and Energy Transfer must publicly disclose when Energy Transfer discharges potentially hazardous waste directly into the Delaware River. 

The proposed RCRA permit more broadly requires Energy Transfer “to minimize the possibility of a release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to soil, surface water, or groundwater which could threaten human health or the environment.” Energy Transfer’s practice of allowing unused storage tanks to likely pollute soil and groundwater at the facility violates this requirement, in addition to Energy Transfer’s practice of releasing polluted stormwater directly into the Delaware River during heavy rain events. DEP must not finalize the proposed permit until unused storage tanks related to oil refining at this facility are decommissioned and the soil and groundwater pollution caused by the leaking tanks is remediated. 

Thank you for your consideration of this comment.