Air Quality Panel Extends Permit for Coke Piles

A petroleum coke plant may continue operations without having to enclose 30-foot-high coke piles that area residents blame for the black dust that blows over their neighborhood.

A hearing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District decided on Tuesday to grant International Minerals & Chemical Corp., whose plant is near the Mobil Oil Co. refinery on Crenshaw Boulevard, a waiver from regulations that require such plants to cover their coke piles.

The waiver, which will remain in effect until Dec. 31, may become permanent if the district concludes after public hearings that the plant poses no environmental problems in the area. The permanent waiver would be subject to yearly reviews by the air quality district.

Residents of the predominantly Latino El Pueblo neighborhood--about 100 homes along Del Amo Boulevard between Crenshaw Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue--have complained that high winds cause dust from the coke piles to shower their neighborhood. Ruben Ordaz, president of the El Pueblo Homeowners Assn., said the dust has plagued the neighborhood for more than 20 years.

The homeowners’ group wanted the district to deny the waiver, but the group was not represented at the Tuesday morning meeting. Ordaz said later he was not surprised by the board’s decision.

“Even if we had been at the hearing it would have done no good; we’re the little taxpayer,” he said.

John Beerkle, operations manager of the plant, told the board that since International Minerals & Chemical took over the plant earlier this year from Great Lakes Carbon Corp., his company has taken several steps to mitigate the problem. Wind-monitoring instruments were installed, coke stockpiles were reduced from 300,000 to 200,000 tons and a water truck was purchased to supplement a sprinkling system aimed at keeping coke dust from being carried by the wind.

Coke is a byproduct of the petroleum-refining process and is used primarily in the Orient as fuel.

Monte McElroy, environmental quality administrator for Torrance, told the board that the city did not object to extending the waiver for another year. But McElroy added that neighbors’ complaints have prompted the City Council to re-evaluate its ordinance on coke piles.