Document O387x0KzrJEV7xm9qroNxkr7v

(conoco) Interoffice Communication To R. E. Lehmkuhl From J. E. Cearley Dat* December 6, 1977 Subject Mobile Benzene Monitor Equipment Requirements The Baltimore plant will be borrowing a Ponca City mobile monitoring trailer with a data acquisition system for measuring benzene, toulene, and xylene in the next few weeks. This trailer will be used for evaluating employee exposure as well as ambient air levels at the fence line (15-minute, 8-hour, and/or 24-hour averages). In order to adequately evaluate exposure levels, it is necessary to know the wind direction and speed and the atmospheric temperature. The trailer is not equipped with these atmospheric-measuring devices, and it will be necessary to purchase these items (approximately $4,000). According to Bob Anthony, his department does not have the capital available for acquiring this equipment. I talked to Kyle Resh of the Baltimore plant and he said the plant did not want to spend the money. An alternate to purchase of the equipment would be to use weather bureau data from the airport; however, this is a poor choice. Data correlation will always be questionable due to the locations of the plant and airport. We attempted to use weather bureau data from the airport in Lake Charles and found frequent poor correlation between the plant site and weather bureau. On a given day one can see various stack plumes going in about four different directions. I strongly recommend funds be obtained for purchase of the needed equipment. It is evident we will be using the monitoring trailers for a long time to come, so this will be a worthwhile investment. Without this equip ment, any data we collect will not be scientifically sound.