Win for the People: DEQ Says No Pet Coke Downriver

Downriver communities have won a battle with Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality after sending a clear message they don’t want stories-high piles of petroleum coke clouding their neighborhoods.

The state agency denied a request by Detroit Bulk Storage for a permit to store oil refinery byproduct on West Great Lakes Street in River Rouge, The Detroit News reports.

That means the company is again shopping for a site to store the material. Last year, the company faced a firestorm of criticism over a plan to store pet coke west of downtown Detroit, just off Jefferson Avenue.

Detroit Bulk Storage cleared the piles of the coal-like material after residents and elected officials complained about its potential adverse health effects. A YouTube video that showed so-called fugitive dust on a windy day in 2013 further fueled residents concerns. The dust was a factor in the DEQ’s denial of the permit.

“Given this operator’s history, and the fact that they’re proposing to essentially do the same thing in a different spot, the DEQ is moving to deny this permit application,” DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel told The Detroit News in a written response to questions.

“The DEQ does not move to deny many permit applications,” he continued. “We don’t want this read as a broader statement about pet coke. But this application in this location does not give DEQ the necessary confidence that we won’t be continually called to cite the operator for dust complaints. The lesson learned last year is that dust containment needs to be a serious consideration for pet coke storage.”

Whether pet coke presents a health hazard is a matter of debate. State researchers maintain it isn’t. But DEQ toxics supervisor Robert Sills did acknowledge during a hearing on the permit application in Wyandotte in March that like any other material, pet coke in large amounts can be harmful.

The newspaper said Detroit Bulk Storage officials were unavailable for comment.