WASHINGTON, DC, March 2, 2009 (ENS) – Lisa Jackson, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said today that the agency will begin a new initiative to measure levels of air contamination near many schools across the country, particularly those located near large industries and in urban areas.

The $2.25 million initiative will be the first to focus on air pollution near schools. Directed by the EPA, the monitoring will be conducted by state and local governments. Some states have already begun monitoring.

“I’m a mother first, and like all parents, I want to be sure my children are breathing healthy air at school,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “Questions have been raised about air quality around some U.S. schools, and those questions merit investigation.”

The questions Jackson refers to were raised in December 2008, by the newspaper “USA Today,” which published a ranking of the air quality around 127,800 public, private and parochial schools based on the concentrations and health hazards of chemicals likely to be in the air outside.

Using the EPA’s computer model that predicts the path of toxic chemicals released by thousands of companies, reporters spent eight months examining the impact of industrial pollution on the air outside schools. They fed into the model emissions reports filed by 20,000 industrial sites in 2005.

San Jacinto Elementary School in Deer Park, Texas, near Houston. Students at schools in this town face high levels of butadiene, a carcinogen, and other gases from petrochemical plants on the Houston Ship Channel. (Photo courtesy Deer Park Independent School District)

The analysis showed that many schools are in toxic hot spots near factories that emit hazardous amounts of toxic gases and metals.

During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on January 14, Jackson promised committee chair Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, that she would prepare a plan to address high pollution levels near schools as one of her top priorities after taking office.

Senator Boxer said today, “I am so pleased that EPA Administrator Jackson has announced a plan to test schools for toxic air pollution. I vowed that schools at risk would be tested when this threat to our children’s health was exposed in a recent investigation, and I asked Administrator Jackson to promise to take immediate action in her recent confirmation hearing. That promise has been kept.”

“Children are our future,” said Boxer, “and we need to ensure they have a safe and healthy one.”

Jackson said the EPA will work with states, tribes, and local communities to ensure that monitors are rapidly deployed to get high-quality data and to share the results with American families.

“EPA will work quickly to make assessments and take swift action where necessary,” Jackson said today. “Our job is to protect the American public where they live, work and play – and that certainly includes protecting schoolchildren where they learn.”

This partnership will help EPA maximize its monitoring and analytical capabilities to develop a clearer picture of any potential risks to children from toxic air pollution, Jackson said, adding, “This action is particularly critical in some low-income areas, which are sometimes disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation.”

From 1990 to 2005, emissions of air toxics in the United States declined 41 percent, according to EPA data.

But levels of air toxics can vary widely from place to place depending upon a number of factors including the amount and types of industry nearby, proximity to heavily traveled or congested roadways, and weather patterns.

The monitors will focus on chemicals that are known to cause cancer, respiratory and neurological problems in children, who are more vulnerable than adults because they are still developing. Exposures to toxic chemicals at critical periods of development can cause damage to the nervous system, reproductive organs and behavioral problems.

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HOUSTON, Texas, September 17, 2008 (ENS) – The nation’s largest biodiesel refinery, located on the Houston Ship Channel, will be shut down for the next six to eight weeks because of damage and loss of power caused by Hurricane Ike, company officials say.

The publicly traded owner-operator GreenHunter Energy says damages at its Renewable Fuels Campus were mainly due to floodwater, which crested the 100-year flood plain level, rather than wind damage from Hurricane Ike.

Completed in March, the refinery is capable of producing 105 million gallons of biodiesel a year.

Bruce Baughman, senior vice president of technology and engineering for the GreenHunter BioFuels division of the company, said, “So far in our assessment of this disaster, we have concluded that fortunately, damage to major process equipment is minimal. We have discovered damage to smaller reagent tanks, intermediate tanks and their interconnecting piping and pumps, as well as damage to the foundations of smaller tanks.”

The GreenHunter biodiesel refinery on
the Houston Ship Channel before Hurricane
Ike. (Photo courtesy GreenHunter Energy)

“Given the sheer volume of water and the extreme flood levels that we faced, our initial assessment is that we sustained overall minor to moderate impact to the Renewable Fuels Campus from Hurricane Ike,” he said.

Two bulk storage tanks – one vegetable oil feedstock tank and one methanol tank – were damaged by the storm. The vegetable oil tank contained edible canola oil and about 50 barrels of the oil was released into the environment. Baughman says all appropriate local, state, and federal agencies, as well as the company’s third-party oil spill response organization were notified of the spill.

The six to eight week shutdown estimate includes the expected timeframe in which the company’s local utility in Houston, Center Point Energy, is able to restore electricity and natural gas service to the location.

The facility had been completely shut down in the 48 hours prior to the hurricane strike early Saturday morning, and all personnel had been evacuated.

Gary Evans, chairman, president, and chief executive GreenHunter Energy said, “Our first concern has been the lives and well-being of our employees and their family members who are located in Houston.”

Evans says the company’s insurance carriers are sending response team adjusters to view the damages and he expresses confidence in the company’s ability to quickly restore the facility’s operations.

There are more than 150 biodiesel producers in the United States, but most are small. Large production facilities include one in Grays Harbor, Washington opened in 2007 by Imperium Renewables that can produce 100 million gallons of biodiesel per year, nearly as much as GreenHunter’s Houston refinery.

Biodiesel is a clean burning alternative fuel produced from plants such as soy or waste vegetable oil that can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. Standard diesel engines need little or no modification to burn the blend.

Biodiesel is safe and biodegradable, and its use reduces greenhouse gas emissions and serious toxic air pollutants, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

The use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine reduces unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and soot compared to emissions from diesel fuel. The exhaust emissions of sulfur oxides and sulfates – major components of acid rain – from biodiesel are essentially eliminated compared to diesel, the National Biodiesel Board says.

Burning biodiesel produces 78 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than petroleum diesel, a 1998 study sponsored by the federal government showed. The reduction is due to biodiesel’s closed carbon cycle – the CO2 released into the atmosphere when biodiesel is burned is recycled by growing plants, which are later processed into fuel.

In 2006, the National Biodiesel Board estimates that more than 250 million gallons of biodiesel were consumed in the United States, up from 75 million in 2005.

A 2007 federal government study found that for every unit of fossil energy it takes to make biodiesel, 3.5 units of energy are gained when the biodiesel is burned.

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AUSTIN, Texas, September 14, 2008 (ENS) – The center of Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston, Texas at 2 am Saturday and moved inland across the Galveston-Houston area, knocking out power, water and sewer services, toppling trees and damaging buildings. The hurricane has claimed eight lives to date, five in Texas, two in Louisiana and one in Arkansas, officials said.

Three bodies were found today in Galveston, including one in a submerged vehicle near the airport. In Corpus Christi, the body of a man who was swept off a pier where he had gone to view the oncoming storm was found today.

At daybreak, the Texas Public Utilities Commission estimated that more than 2.4 million customers were without power, and the U.S. Energy Department says 400,000 others are without power in Louisiana and Arkansas.

Galveston’s Flagship hotel stands amidst
the wreckage wrought by Hurricane Ike.
(Photo by Arthur Chong)

Still, officials say the Gulf Coast was spared the worst case scenario.

“Although the impact in the city of Galveston and the Houston ship channel was not quite as bad as worst case scenario, it was still very substantial, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said late Saturday. “We’re talking about surges of 16 feet, maybe more in certain isolated inland places. This has been a very dangerous storm.”

Chertoff said 2.2 million people evacuated from Texas and more than 130,000 left Louisiana ahead of the storm.

Ike’s coastal storm surge caused flooding of up to 20 feet along the Texas coast.

In downtown Galveston, residents who chose not to obey the mandatory evacuation order, reported flood waters reaching the second floors of some buildings.

Hurricane Ike will change Galveston, city manager Steve LeBlanc told the “Galveston County Daily News” today. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Officials estimated the island suffered $18 billion in damage, said Galveston Police Capt. Henry Porretto. Damaged southbound lanes of the Galveston Causeway are closed, although northbound lanes are open, so people can leave the island, but cannot return at this time.

Ike swept over the Scholes International Airport at Galveston, which was closed Friday afternoon. It is not known when the airport is expected to reopen.

On Saturday, the hurricane passed within 20 miles of the Houston International Airport before turning toward the north-northeast. This airport is open today but planes heading to New York’s J.F. Kennedy airport and Chicago’s O’Hare are experiencing delays of about two hours due to high winds and heavy weather as Ike swings across to the northeast, heading for the Great Lakes.

Beaumont, particularly Orange County and Cameron Parrish in Louisiana, have been very hard hit with a storm surge. Lake Charles in Louisiana, is experiencing some flooding as are other parts of Cameron County.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Lopaka Mounts,
left, and Senior Airman Brandon Smith
run through a flooded portion of
Galveston, Texas, searching for residents
who need help after Hurricane Ike, Sept.
13, 2008. (Photo by Staff Sgt. James L.
Harper Jr. courtesy U.S. Air Force)

Across Texas, nearly 2,000 storm victims have been rescued in the course of nearly 500 search and rescue missions. An estimated 394 victims were rescued by air, particularly in the Galveston area where large groups of people did not obey the mandatory evacuation order.

At least 1,554 victims have been rescued via ground and water, and more than 600 victims have been assisted without need for evacuation, said officials with the Texas Governor’s Office.

President George W. Bush Saturday declared a major disaster for 29 counties in Texas, clearing the way for federal funding to individuals and local communities for recovery efforts.

A former governor of Texas, President Bush said on Sunday, “I do urge people in the affected areas to listen closely to local authorities before they attempt to get back home. There are people now surveying damage and people reporting in to the state as to the conditions there in the different communities. And it’s very important for citizens, who I know are anxious to get home, to take your time and listen, and take the advice of the local folks.”

FEMA Administrator David Paulison, who has more than 35 years of experience in emergency management, warned people who did not evacuate to “stay home.”

“Don’t get impatient,” he said. “Don’t try to get out early.”

“In all the hurricanes that I’ve seen that I’ve dealt with, most of the injuries, most of the fatalities come after the storm, not during the storm. It’s generally those people who get out too early and too soon and get into the path of danger,” said Paulison, who started as a firefighter in Miami. “Just be patient. Stay in your house and don’t go out too early until it’s safe to do so.”

Texas Governor Rick Perry had the same message for Texans today. “People in the area need to understand that our team is working ’round the clock to restore services while people outside the area need to stay away until we have reached an acceptable level of safety,” the governor said.

Accompanied by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Texas Director of Homeland Security Steve McCraw, the governor today surveyed storm damage from the air before visiting Galveston Island and Ellington Airfield to check with local emergency management officials.

“It’s difficult to see parts of our state in this condition, but it is the current reality and we’re working through a recovery operation that is massive in scale and complexity,” said Governor Perry.

Hurricane Ike flooded this church in
Mouton Cove, Vermilion Parish,
Louisiana. (Photo by Adam Melancon)

Across the affected Gulf states, the Red Cross and other partners are sheltering over 40,000 people in more than 260 shelters.

Fifteen points of distribution staffed by Texas Military Forces are expected to be open by midnight Sunday. FEMA is setting up points of distribution throughout the Houston area and the state will operate distribution points set up in east Harris County.

The federal government will be providing 1.5 million liters of water and one million meals a day to assist people who have been displaced.

The federal Minerals Management Service has two confirmed reports of drilling rigs adrift in the central Gulf of Mexico.

“MMS is closely monitoring these rigs, and they have been relatively stationary for several hours,” said Lars Herbst, MMS regional director for the Gulf of Mexico. “We expect tugs to be on location to secure the rigs as soon as sea conditions allow.”

From the reports of offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico, the MMS estimates that 99.6 percent of the oil production in the Gulf has been shut-in, stopping production of an estimated 1.3 million barrels of oil per day. About 91.9 percent of the natural gas production in the Gulf also has been shut-in, the MMS estimates.

Personnel have been evacuated from a total of 591 production platforms, equivalent to 82.4 percent of the 717 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Production platforms remain in the same location throughout a project’s duration unlike drilling rigs which typically move from location to location.

Personnel from 92 rigs have also been evacuated – equivalent to 76 percent of the 121 rigs currently operating in the Gulf.

Now that the hurricane has passed, all rigs and production platforms will be boarded and inspected. Once all standard checks have been completed, production from undamaged facilities will be brought back on line immediately. Facilities sustaining damage may take longer to bring back on line.

Fifteen refineries in Texas and Louisiana are reported shut down due to Hurricane Ike. Chevron reports that numerous retail stations in Houston and Galveston are still without power. They are deploying generators to repower key stations and provide fuel to customers.

Operators of the Colonial crude oil pipeline announced this morning that it has received electricity at its Texas location and has restarted its line at reduced rates.

Gulf Ports and waterways are still closed from Houston east to Lake Charles, Louisiana. There are restrictions in the Corpus Christi ship channel which limits movements to vessels with drafts less than 35 feet. In the New Orleans area, the Industrial Navigation Canal is still closed in sections.

The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is also closed, west of Harvey Locks, in three different sections. The Lower Mississippi River is limited to vessels with drafts less than 35 feet over a 20 mile section.

What was once Hurricane Ike is now a tropical depression. Remnants of the weather system are racing northeast at 50 mph and producing heavy rainfall with strong and damaging winds.

At 4 pm Sunday the system as located 40 miles west of Toledo, Ohio, bringing damaging winds and flooding rain to the lower Ohio Valley.

Hurricane force winds were clocked today at 75 mph in Louisville, Kentucky.

The remnants of Ike will produce heavy rainfall of one to three inches into this evening over the lower Great Lakes as it moves into the St. Lawrence River Valley by Monday morning.

Flood and flash flood watches still are in effect for coastal Texas into eastern Louisiana and central Mississippi and flood warnings are in effect from the central Gulf Coast northward into the middle Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes region.

No more hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic at this time.

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AUSTIN, Texas, September 11, 2008 (ENS) – Residents of the Houston-Galveston area and four northern counties on the Texas Gulf Coast have been ordered to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Ike, now headed directly for the city of Galveston.

Brazoria, Jefferson, Matagorda and Orange counties are being evacuated, and county offices and courthouses are closed today and will remain closed until the storm has passed.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas ordered the evacuation of the island today and the University of Galveston Medical Center expects to have all patients safely evacuated by the end of the day.

“Latest estimates show that Ike will begin moving ashore within the next 48 hours, packing winds in excess of 120 miles per hour and a storm surge that could reach 14 feet or more,” Texas Governor Rick Perry said at a news conference in Austin today.
Standing in front of a count-down clock showing less than 24 hours to

Hurricane Ike, Texas Governor Rick
Perry warns Texans to evacuate. (Photo
courtesy Office of the Governor)

“If your house has an eve that’s 14 feet, it would be completely under water,” Perry said. “That’s the type of surge we’re talking about all through Galveston and all the way up into the [Houston] Ship Channel.”

“My message to Texans in the projected impact area is this,” the governor warned, “finish your preparations because Ike is dangerous and he’s on his way.”

“When a storm of this magnitude hits, it will do damage, it will knock out power, and it will cause flooding,” Perry said, urging everyone to move inland as quickly as possible.

On a televised news conference this morning, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett ordered those in low-lying areas to the east and southeast of Houston to begin evacuating by noon today.

After some initial confusion, Houston’s Metro transit system is picking up all residents in evacuation zones who cannot get out by themselves. Dozens of charter buses have been brought in to take them to shelters in Dallas, far from Hurricane Ike.

METROLift will stop providing transportation at noon Friday and will only provide transportation for those needing to go to life-sustaining or medically essential appointments. No services will be provided on Saturday or Sunday.

A Corpus Christi firefighter assists a
resident with special needs into a bus
which will take her and her family to
a shelter in San Antonio in advance
of Hurricane Ike. Sept. 9, 2008 (Photo
by Patsy Lynch courtesy FEMA)

A Hurricane Warning is in effect from Morgan City, Louisiana to Baffin Bay, Texas, just south of the city of Corpus Christi, and hurricane conditions could reach the coast within this area by late Friday, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

A Hurricane Watch and Tropical Storm Warning are in effect from south of Baffin Bay to the Texas-Mexico border.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from east of Morgan City to the Mississippi-Alabama border, including the city of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 115 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 255 miles, forecasters warned.

Above normal tides of three to five feet are already occurring along much of the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

National Weather Service forecasters say the storm also may impact the cities of San Antonio, Austin and Waco because of a high potential for tornadoes in its outer bands.

“As we speak, Ike is a Category 2 storm, but could very well intensify to a Cat 4,” Governor Perry said. “That would make Hurricane Ike the strongest storm to come ashore in Texas in the past three years, but we are ready. To prepare for its impact, our Division of Emergency Management, under the leadership of Steve McCraw and Jack Colley, is executing a massive effort to assist our state and local officials in moving Texans out of harm’s way.

Up to 7,500 Texas Military Forces personnel with helicopters and cargo planes have been activated, and more than 1,300 buses are available for those who cannot self-evacuate, along with more than 300 ambulances for citizens with special medical needs.

To provide immediate help in the recovery process, state and federal officials have created Texas Task Force Ike together with private sector partners.

It includes Texas Task Forces 1, Texas Military Forces, state agencies, businesses and mass care organizations, Perry said. “As soon as the storm passes over, this team will roll into the affected area and get to work supporting the local communities and their leaders.”

“As we always do, we have prepared for the worst and will continue to pray for the best,” the governor said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has pre-staged life-saving and life-sustaining commodities around Texas such as meals ready-to-eat, drinking water, cots, blankets and tarps.

The U.S. Coast Guard has put ships, fixed and rotary wing aircraft, medical teams, disaster assistance response teams and other personnel on call and is urging the maritime community and boating public to track Hurricane Ike’s progress and take early action to protect themselves and their vessels.

More than 13,500 National Guard members are already actively supporting recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast region from Hurricane Gustav earlier this month and is poised to send nearly 40,000 additional troops to support civilian authorities and maintain order.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has 40 trained response teams equipped with field guides and mobile response equipment to support debris removal, commodities procurement and delivery, temporary emergency power, temporary housing, temporary roofing, infrastructure assessment, and support to urban search and rescue missions.

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AUSTIN, Texas, August 27, 2008 (ENS) – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has resolved the state’s environmental enforcement action against two Lyondell Chemical Company subsidiaries that operated seven petrochemical plants in Houston and along the Gulf Coast.

Under an agreed final judgment proposed by the state, defendants Equistar Chemicals and Millenium Petrochemicals Inc. will each pay $3.25 million in penalties, Abbott announced Monday.

In December 2006, the attorney general charged the Lyondell subsidiaries with repeatedly failing to prevent the release of harmful pollutants into the atmosphere.

“Texas has an obligation to enforce environmental laws that protect the health and safety of its residents,” Abbott said. “Industrial growth must be balanced with environmental stewardship in order to ensure a bright future for our state. We are committed to working with industry leaders to protect the quality of our air, water and natural resources for future generations.”
The La Porte plant is on the south shore of the Houston Ship Channel. (Photo courtesy Lyondell)

Under the proposed agreement, Equistar and Millenium will each set aside $500,000 to fund supplemental environmental projects identified by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The agreement still is subject to court approval.

An investigation by the TCEQ revealed that the seven Lyondell facilities released harmful emissions, including volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide, into the atmosphere over a long period of time.

The TCEQ discovered that the defendants’ plants in La Porte, Channelview and Chocolate Bayou either ignored long-term pollutant releases or did very little to remedy chronic problems over time.

Investigators found that Millennium’s La Porte plant may have allowed its pressurized rail cars to vent uncontrolled chemical emissions directly into the atmosphere. Plants in Corpus Christi, Bayport and Beaumont self-reported multiple violations to the state environmental agency.

According to the defendants’ own reports, thousands of components were ignored. Equistar and Millennium failed to implement required detection and repair programs that should have addressed valve, connector, pump and other component leaks.

For years, the Houston area has been designated an ozone non-attainment zone by the federal government. Polluters in these zones are required to implement controls and technological innovations that curb air emissions that form ground-level ozone, or smog.

With $16 billion in assets, Lyondell Chemical Company is one of the world’s largest chemical manufacturers and a refiner of heavy, high-sulfur crude oil.

The Lyondell, Equistar and Millennium companies manufacture basic chemicals and derivatives such as ethylene, propylene, titanium oxide, styrene, polyethylene, propylene oxide and acetyls.

The seven plants involved in the state’s environmental enforcement action are located in La Porte, Channelview, Chocolate Bayou, Corpus Christi, Bayport and Beaumont.

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HOUSTON, Texas, January 9, 2008 (ENS) – Sierra Club and Environment Texas filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal district court against Shell Oil Company and several affiliates. The groups claim that Shell has repeatedly violated the Clean Air Act at its Deer Park, Texas, oil refinery and chemical plant, resulting in the release of millions of pounds of air pollutants over the past five years, including toxic chemicals such as benzene and 1,3-butadiene.

The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring Shell to end its Clean Air Act violations. In addition, Shell faces civil penalties of up to $32,500 per day for each violation of the Clean Air Act. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell, ranked by “Fortune” magazine as the third largest company in the world.

Shell’s Deer Park facility is a 1,500 acre complex located on the Houston Ship Channel in Harris County, about 20 miles east of downtown Houston. It is the nation’s eighth largest oil refinery and one of the world’s largest producers of petrochemicals.

Shell’s Deer Park refinery
(Photo credit unknown)

The facility is also the second largest source of air pollution in Harris County, which ranks among the worst in the nation in several measures of air quality.

“I live and work downwind from Shell, in Channelview. My family and my employees simply can’t afford to breathe in any more air pollution,” said Sierra Club member and small business owner Karla Land. “We have laws to protect air quality for a reason. Shell is breaking those laws and they need to be made to stop.”

The Clean Air Act contains a “citizen suit” provision that allows private citizens affected by violations of the law to bring an enforcement suit in federal court if state and federal regulators do not.

“On average of more than once a week for at least the past five years, Shell has reported that it violated its own permit limits by spewing a wide range of harmful pollutants into the air around the Deer Park plant,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. “Because the state of Texas and the U.S. EPA have both failed to put a stop to these blatant violations, ordinary citizens are stepping up to enforce the law themselves.”

Shell’s permits contain both hourly and yearly limits on the amounts of pollutants it can emit into the atmosphere. The lawsuit alleges that equipment breakdowns, malfunctions, and other non-routine incidents at the Deer Park complex result in the release of millions of pounds of pollutants into the surrounding air, frequently in violation of legal limits.

A single such “upset” or “emission event” can result in the release of thousands of pounds of air pollutants in a matter of minutes or hours. Some emission events at Shell Deer Park have involved pollutant releases in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

It is the first case in Texas in which citizen groups are suing to stop air emissions arising from so-called “upset” events.

According to the groups’ analysis of Shell’s own reports to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, air pollutants released during upsets at Deer Park since 2003 include:

* Over two million pounds of sulfur dioxide

* Over one million pounds of volatile organic compounds, VOCs

* Over 600,000 pounds of carbon monoxide

* Over 250,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides

* Over 90,000 pounds of benzene and 60,000 pounds of 1,3-butadiene

Nitrogen oxides and VOCs contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, or smog, which, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, can trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and congestion.

The company said Tuesday, “Shell Deer Park refining and chemical share the goal of the Sierra Club and Environment Texas to improve air quality.”

“We have a record of continuous improvement in environmental performance achieved through significant investment in emission reduction projects and heightened employee focus on preventing operational incidents,” the company said in a statement.

Shell gave examples including “a 14 percent reduction in reported benzene air emissions in 2006 compared with 2005, and a 67 percent reduction in flaring incidents from our Olefins operations between 2005 and 2007.”

“In December, we met with the law firm representing the environmental groups,” Shell said. “We are committed to an ongoing dialogue with them to discuss their concerns, our operations and the steps we are taking to further reduce emissions.”

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