Slide show from a joint Riverkeeper-Sierra Club webinar on crude oil transport in New York State

1. Crude Oil Transport at the Port of Albany
Roger Downs, Conservation Director
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter

2. Buckeye Terminal
Global Terminal

3. Brief History of Crude by Rail at POA
• In 2009, Global Partners proposed to modify the
Kenwood Rail yard to accommodate ethanol-by-rail
delivery to the shipping terminal.
• In July, 2011, Global Partners applied for a modified
Title V air permit to store Bakken crude oil at the
terminal. The permit was approved in August of 2011.
• In November 2011, a following application was made
to modify the Title V permit, again to accommodate
crude oil loading capabilities at the facility’s marine
loading dock.

4. • The DEC issued a Negative Declaration of Environmental
Significance in July of 2012, and issued a permit, allowing
Global to transload 1.8 billion gallons of Bakken Crude
annually.
• At the same time another company “Buckeye” applied for
similar modifications and was permitted to trans load 1 billion
gallons of crude annually from rail to ship (2.8 B in total)
• Jun 1, 2013 global filed an application to modify it’s title V
permit for the Albany terminal to facilitate the offloading of
Canadian tarsands – a proposal which included the addition of
7 natural gas boilers to heat the crude for trans loading
purposes. In November 2013, DEC Issued a Negative
Declaration signaling that the project would move forward.

5. Where the State has Jurisdiction Over
Crude Oil Transport at the Port of Albany
• Title V Air Permits
• Petroleum Bulk Storage
permits
• State Pollution Discharge
Elimination System permits
• DOT Rail Inspections
• Dredging Permits
• Summary Abatement
Powers

6. Albany Fights Back

7. Impacts to the Community
• air quality degradation and
petroleum odors
• increased asthma and other
health problems
• concerns over safety
especially with playgrounds,
schools, parks, medical
facilities and residences so
close to the tracks
• long, unsafe disruptions at
road crossings
• excessive noise

9. Major Developments
• January 2014 – Pressure from
Albany City government forces
Global to move proposed heating
facility outside of City jurisdiction.
• March 2014 -Albany County
imposes a moratorium on the
heating of crude oil and other
crude by rail transport
expansions.
• June 2014 – Ezra Prentice Tenants
association and environmental
groups Sue DEC and Global for
SEQRA violations with the
propose Tar Sands Boiler facility

10. Groups File Article 78 June 7, 2014
The Complaint:
• issuance of Negative Declaration was arbitrary failing to
identify relevant areas of concern
• DEC violated SEQRA by failing to require an EIS
• the Negative Declaration was based upon a flawed and
incomplete air quality analysis
• the Negative Declaration failed to consider GHG emissions
• the Negative Declaration failed to identify or evaluate
environmental and safety risks associated with rail and
barge transport of crude oil
• The EAF contained inaccurate and incorrect information
that resulted in a fatally flawed negative declaration

11. DEC Rescinds Negative Declaration
Sends Notice of Incomplete Application to Global
May 21, 2015
The Reasoning:
• Significant project changes
• new information
• concerns for tar sands spills
• failure to model for H2S air
emissions
• non-compliance with New
Source Review
requirements
• Environmental Justice
concerns
• 19,000 public comments

12. Where do we go from here?