A small crowd turned out Feb. 2 for a pollution permitting hearing for Transco pipeline, which operates a station in Comer that forces natural gas through a pipeline that extends from the Gulf of Mexico up the east coast.
The Transco station uses natural gas in the lines to fuel its engines, which speed up the flow of the product. Air toxins are released into the atmosphere during the process.
A recent report from the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) indicated that residents around Transco don’t have anything to fear from toxic emissions from the plant. The plant emits up to 183 tons of the carcinogen formaldehyde annually, according to EPD figures.
“Operations at Transco are not expected to harm people’s health because the public has not been, are not currently, and are unlikely to be exposed to contamination at levels of health concern,” the DPH report stated.
But several citizens who attended the hearing aren’t comforted by such assurances. Some who live near the station voiced concerns Thursday about air emissions and how pollutants could affect their health. They said that the public health assessment conducted by the state was not thorough and failed to include cancer cases in the Transco area.
“We know of at least 47 people in the area that have cancer,” said Cindy Droll, who has battled cancer herself. “There’s been 15 that have lived on my road, Coile Road, at one time or another that have had cancer. It’s just a worry, because we live so close and there have been so many of us that have had it.”
While health was a topic Thursday, the hearing was not so much a mechanism for change as a procedural step in the permitting process. Every five years, Transco must apply for a Title V air emissions permit from the Environmental Protection Division. EPD officials must then determine whether the permit meets federal guidelines on emissions.
Eric Cornwell, program manager for the EPD’s stationary source permitting program, led the meeting Thursday. He said that the EPD’s task is to determine whether the permit is in compliance with federal guidelines, adding that he is not qualified to answer the health questions.
“One hundred and eighty three tons is a lot of formaldehyde compared to other facilities, but as far as side effects, I’m not a toxicologist,” he said. “Georgia right now doesn’t have a toxicologist.”
A Title V hearing is only called if a citizen requests one. And the EPD had one request for a hearing.
Officials explained Thursday that the Transco facility in Comer has old turbines and engines, which date as far back as 60 years. Equipment installed in newer booster stations must meet emissions control guidelines, but older equipment, such as at Transco’s Station 130 in Comer, was “grandfathered” in by the federal government and not required to upgrade to cleaner methods of boosting fuel, because such actions were considered “cost prohibitive.”
Cornwell couldn’t provide any estimates on what such an upgrade would cost Transco. But he did note that new equipment is generally expected to reduce formaldehyde emissions by 70 percent.
A couple of residents questioned whether the Comer station is one of the biggest on the Transco line, which includes 52 compressor facilities in 12 states. The Comer station includes 21 engines and two turbines.
EPD officials didn’t have specifics Thursday, but John Yntema, unit manager of the EPD’s stationary source permitting program, provided comparisons this week on the Transco station in Comer versus other company stations in Stockbridge and Monroe.
According to Yntema, Madison County’s booster station is actually more powerful than its sister station in Stockbridge, with a 24 percent greater capacity. The Comer station has a combined engine and turbine horsepower of 57,536, while Stockbridge station has a total horsepower of 46,580. The much newer station in Monroe, which has two turbines and no engines, has a total horsepower of 33,704.
“Sincere there are only turbines, the emissions are reported to be much lower,” wrote Yntema of the Monroe station.
The hazardous air pollutants (HAP) emissions are reported at 236 tons per year in Comer, versus 120 in Stockbridge, with only four tons of HAP reported in the newer Monroe facility.
Madison County resident Bill Holloway asked EPD officials why emissions guidelines could be so different for individuals versus corporations.
“If you’re the Environmental Protection Division, why would it make any difference if it’s an automobile or a big turbine engine polluting the air,” asked Holloway. “You used to have an emissions test to get a sticker on your automobile. Atlanta may still be doing that. It didn’t matter what age that vehicle was, if you didn’t pass that test, you didn’t get a permit to operate it. So why are these big corporations allowed to do something like this to the environment when we can’t do it as individuals with automobiles?”
Cornwell said the EPD is simply following federal guidelines.
“It comes down to what the standards say,” said Cornwell. “Back in 1974, they started requiring catalytic converters on automobiles. Cars before that didn’t have to have them. That’s what the federal standards say and what the regulations say. We really are just taking those standards and compiling them into one document, which is the Title V permit.”
Yntema said old cars don’t have to get emissions testing.
“That’s because they weren’t built to comply with those emissions limits,” said Yntema. “You look at the testing that’s done, the newer the cars, the more stringent the requirements it has to meet … That may be good or bad, but we don’t make you take the engine out of your car and put another one in there.”
Several students from Joe Costyn’s class at Commerce High School spoke Thursday against the Title V application, noting that the public has not been given enough information about what is being emitted and how it could affect them.
Dottie Coile, who lives half a mile from the station, said she is very discouraged, because she feels there’s a real problem, but no one seems to listen.
“I guess what the frustration with all of us in this area is, we end up with everyone of us having cancer, like she (Cindy Droll) said, we have about 47 within a two and a half or three mile radius of Transcontinental Pipeline,” said Coile. “We have health people come out here and check us out. They interview people and the only cases they find are people that smoke. And this is just not right. We are human beings. And if there’s anything that place can do, I know they’ve got the money to come in there and start fixing this. There’s no sense in us having to endure this. And then you say move, but we are here. We can’t just move. And it’s just so frustrating, because nobody listens. Nobody cares. What happens if that place blows up or something? We’re the first to go too.”
Coile said she always hears that the toxins will just “float up in the air.”
“We’re not allowed to burn paper anymore, because that’s going to cause the atmosphere to be bad,” said Coile. “But you can sit with all these toxins floating in the air and nobody cares.”
Jill McElheney, who led Citizens Organized for Pipeline Safety (COPS), said she asked Environmental Protection Agency officials to be on hand Thursday, since the EPA sets the policies that the EPD follows. She said she was very discouraged that they failed to attend the meeting.
Joe Costyn asked whether any Transco officials were on hand Thursday, but no one spoke up.
Chris Stockton, spokesperson for Transco, e-mailed the Journal following the meeting.
“… I was in attendence at tonight’s meeting as an observer to listen to the public’s concerns,” wrote Stockton. “I wanted to make that clear, since there was a statement that Transco didn’t care enough to attend. That isn’t true. We are very aware of their concerns, but as we have stated in the past, we respectfully disagree with their conclusion that we are the source of any health issues.”
Stockton submitted an e-mail to The Journal prior to Thursday’s meeting, emphasizing that Transco is committed to the health and safety of its employees and neighbors.
“We are extremely sensitive to the health and well-being of our employees and neighbors,” wrote Stockton. “That’s why we fully cooperated with the Georgia Department of Health, which conducted an extensive public health assessment (over a two-year period) studying the operations of our Transco pipeline operations in Madison County. The study concluded that our pipeline operations in Madison County pose no public health threat.”
Stockton noted that Transco works in compliance with all federal and state regulations. He said the health study should allay the public’s concerns.
“The latest findings by the Georgia Department of Health confirmed that our Comer facility has not caused and isn’t causing any abnormal health issues,” wrote Stockton. “We hope that the extensive research conducted by the state will help lessen potential public concern.”
Are you the one who was always posting that you want somebody, anybody but you, to do something about the conservation tax credit thing that you think is a problem? If so, again, why are you expecting others to do your research for you? I find this extremely annoying!
"Jill McElheney, who led Citizens Organized for Pipeline Safety (COPS)...."
I figured you had read the article and COPS wasn't mentioned but it was so I made it easy for you by quoting it here.