DOVER – Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Shawn M. Garvin has issued a Secretary’s Order granting an air quality construction permit for Walan Specialty Construction Products, LLC’s slag-grinding, drying and processing facility in Wilmington. The Secretary’s Order indicates that feedback received throughout the public comment period following a Nov. 20, 2018 DNREC public hearing has resulted in an air quality permit that includes a comprehensive fugitive dust control plan and control measures not included in Walan’s permit application.

According to the Order, numerous measures have been incorporated into the permit that will require Walan Specialty Construction Products, LLC to minimize offsite impacts from the company’s operation of the facility. These include the facility using state-of-the-art best available control technology (BACT) to control particulate emissions from the drying and grinding operations, and implementing best management practices to maintain a neat and orderly work environment.

Other measures to minimize environmental impacts include limiting truck activity onsite to paved surfaces. Truck loading of Walan Specialty Construction Products’ finished product will use a sealed chute going to enclosed trucks within a bay utilizing curtain doors in the loading areas. Prior to processing, granulated blast furnace slag stored onsite will be tarped. The permit also includes a throughput limit of 150,000 tons per year of slag (a 43 percent reduction from the permit application), resulting in lower permitted emissions than figures presented by Walan at the DNREC public hearing last November.

The facility has also committed to transporting products via truck routes that avoid neighborhoods, performing daily inspections of the hauling route to the facility, and promptly cleaning up any spilled material. These offsite measures as well as the onsite tarping and installation of curtain doors for the truck loading area are the direct result of feedback received at the hearing and during the public comment period.

The Secretary’s Order can be found on the DNREC website at https://dnrec.alpha.delaware.gov/secretarys-orders/permitting/.

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 49, No. 219

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DOVER – Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Shawn M. Garvin has issued a Notice of Administrative Penalty Assessment and DNREC Secretary’s Order to EcoServices, LLC, and a company foreman, Derrick Maxwell, for violating Delaware’s Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. Both EcoServices, LLC, and Derrick Maxwell were each assessed a penalty of $20,000 by DNREC, and ordered to pay $12,948 in recovery costs for the Department’s services and subsequent investigation.

EcoServices, LLC, a licensed environmental contractor based in Exton, Pa., and the company’s worksite foreman Maxwell were found to be in violation of state emission standards for hazardous air pollutants when EcoServices, LLC performed asbestos abatement services earlier this year at the former General Motors plant at Boxwood in New Castle County.

The two violations by EcoServices, LLC and Derrick Maxwell cited in the Secretary’s Order occurred on Feb. 25 and March 8, 2019. Each violation was assessed a $10,000 penalty by DNREC. The Order, which can be found on the DNREC website at https://dnrec.alpha.delaware.gov/secretarys-orders/enforcement/, provides more information about EcoServices, LLC’s hazardous air pollutant violations at the former Boxwood GM plant.
Respondents have 30 days to appeal the Secretary’s Order by requesting a public hearing.

Vol. 49, No. 214

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

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DOVER – Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Shawn M. Garvin has issued a DNREC Notice of Administrative Penalty and Secretary’s Order to Diamond State Generation Partners, LLC (Bloom Energy) for violations of Delaware’s air quality regulations. Diamond State Generation Partners has paid a penalty of $40,000 along with $5,454 in cost recovery to the Department.

Diamond State Generation Partners, LLC/Bloom Energy owns and operates a fuel cell facility in New Castle, Del., commonly identified as the “Red Lion” facility. The DNREC Administrative Penalty covers air quality violations at the company’s Red Lion facility that occurred from June 16 through July 19, 2019.

The Secretary’s Order can be found on the DNREC website at https://dnrec.alpha.delaware.gov/secretarys-orders/enforcement/.

Vol. 49, No. 207

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

DOVER – The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) announced today that it has signed a settlement agreement with the Delaware City Refining Company, LLC (DCRC) over pending air quality permit appeals and violations concerning the company’s Delaware City refinery. Terms of the settlement agreement call for DCRC to pay an administrative penalty of $950,000, while DNREC through the agreement will provide public notice of proposed changes to the Regulation 1102 permits under appeal by DCRC. Once DNREC issues revised air permits, DCRC has agreed in the settlement to dismiss its permit appeals.

This settlement agreement covers air quality violations at the Delaware City refinery from the June 2010 restart through October 31, 2018, including the violations addressed in the July 24, 2013 Notice of Administrative Penalty Assessment and Secretary’s Order (2013-A-0022). The agreement additionally covers air quality violations through July 2019 related to the refinery’s Coke Storage and Handling Complex.

The settlement agreement can be found on the DNREC website at https://dnrec.alpha.delaware.gov/secretarys-orders/enforcement/.

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 49, No. 190

DOVER – The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has concluded that there was no increased risk to human health or safety from deluge water used to contain the Nov. 25, 2018 ethylene oxide (EO) release at Croda’s Atlas Point facility. DNREC’s conclusion was made from a soil and groundwater sampling report required of Croda by the Department as part of a settlement agreement with DNREC in the aftermath of the EO incident.

The full report, prepared by an environmental consultant on Croda’s behalf and reviewed by DNREC’s Site Investigation & Restoration Section, can be found on the DNREC website. The DNREC-Croda settlement agreement requiring the report from Croda assessed a penalty of $230,000 to Croda for air, hazardous waste and water quality violations stemming from the EO incident, and additional steps to be completed by Croda before the EO plant can resume operations.

Data in the soil and groundwater report was based on the amount of deluge water that exceeded a containment sump at Croda’s facility in New Castle. Terms of the settlement agreement required soil and groundwater sampling by Croda to determine if EO-contaminated deluge water had impacted the area west of Croda’s EO production unit. EO was not detected in any of the soil or groundwater samples from Croda, according to the report.

Another compound associated with Croda’s operations, 1,4-dioxane, considered a contaminant, was detected in two soil samples, as well as the groundwater sample from the company. For the site’s intended manufacturing use, the reported concentrations of 1,4-dioxane in the groundwater samples do not pose an unacceptable risk to health and safety. The reported concentrations of 1,4-dioxane, the locations of detections noted during sampling, and past detections of 1,4-dioxane by DNREC at the site led the Department to conclude that there is a very low probability that last year’s EO release was the source of the 1,4-dioxane concentrations sampled. Based on the levels and location, no further action is required to address this portion of the site.

A DNREC letter to Croda reiterated that the Nov. 25, 2018 EO release does not change remedial actions already required by DNREC in addressing site contamination at the Atlas Point facility and that are ongoing as directed by the Department.

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 49, No. 90

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