Document nm7gGJp4MKDwXdZBNoeyNN928

emissions by Deborah Richmond ' -'. What have beerL .described as 357 1 `leaks''! from Dow Chemical's: Fort Saskatchewan vinyl1 chloride monomer (VCM)j plant since its start-up in November,. 1979, would!; be more accurately termed excessive stack emissions,' .claim company officials, i ' ' Dow's superintendent, !of industrial hygiene, and'; environmental control,] " .Bob Lutz, clarified that a; ' true leak would occur if a* [ gasket or valve in the plant v. broke of malfunctioned,. ;A allowing release V ofj *7Straight VCM. This hasi | happened twice since the! f plant, began operating, he! said. . - . f; -Lutz ^'admittedJ however, that Dow hath 3 hadjlifficulty meeting' the] R two parts " per" i .(ppm) VCM standard the] ;. province had set for the. company's licence*At that. ;. standard, the"' company] met the requirements 96.6] per. cent of the time,!he] f; said. Last August, Dow'sj 7 standard was revised to 10 i 7 ppm, the federal guideline! -- for safety levels of VCM,! v giving the plant a 99.6 per; V cent _success jrate..; ``The! ,7 government has been ui-j j-volved in our problems; - from day one,'.' said Lutz,j "The record^ shows we} 7 have improved a lot." i ii.-'::;;.The "I^ks'7 referred*! to in recent news stories^ r are' described by Lutz as] '"``excursions", which oc-1 !"cnr when waste gases are; j^not completely burned off, in the plant's incinerator,] s'.and are released to the at- '"mdspliefe" through the*-' plant's licenced'standard.; . stack. . ` . jA number of The highest recorded level waste' thus far'has-been 147; gases, in varying composi- ppm, he added. 1 tions, are continually fed : to the. high-temperature - ^Dow - experts ` are. ; combustion chamber, ex- presently working on the ' plained Lutz- Because of design of a new style of in - varying oxygen and other cinerator which will fticdf-'. "'chemical ratios,. 100 per porate changes recoin-; cent combustion is not mended through operating' . . always achieved. In addi- ' experience, said Lutz. In tion, Dow has found that the meantime, the com-! ;. burner materials within "pany continues to take: ' the incinerator have not corrective action at the ^ withstood the rigorous plant. ` Better. monitoring- !=-7. service, and gaskets inside 3 devices on feed streams to jt'the chamber have been 7 the '7 incinerator are! known to break. .- .necessary, he said, as is! i -. jyf V'. Air samples are taken; .better monitoring of the t-: manually from the every. ; eight hours; stack, said ! whole,, system, itself. Imp to've'd . t em p e ra t u re Lutz, -and testing occa maintenance and'hardier sionally reveals a level of construction materials' VCMl= au or;] above,the ^Avould also help;, he addedj Bi>rr ^eco-tcl pQCJe. ^ Auc 5 1981 3D flo CO oO u <-bo