Air Permit Exceedances Air permit exceedances represent the number of times that a Sunoco facility exceeded limits contained in permits or regulations. The data reflect the number of times during the year that permit exceedances occurred, including multiple exceedances during the same day, as well as exceedances that lasted longer than one day.
The 2006, 2007 and 2008 Air Permit Exceedance numbers are shown with an additional portion of the bar chart. Beginning in 2006, the Bayport and La Porte plants were affected by a new regulatory requirement that regulated highly reactive VOCs (HRVOC) for the first time and resulted in the installation of new monitoring equipment.
Start-up issues with the new monitoring equipment were addressed and areas for improved operation identified and acted upon. This resulted in an initial significant jump in air permit exceedances as defined by the new regulation. Since this initial adjustment period, the Bayport and La Porte performance has improved significantly.
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Overall, 2008 air permit exceedances:
Declined by 29.3% compared with 2007
Four of the six chemical plants had improved or remained the same and contributed to the chemical plants’ 25.6% improvement
Four refineries performed well with an overall improvement of 36.7% for all five refineries
When excluding the HRVOC air permit exceedances, to allow an “apples-to-apples” comparison, 2008 was one of Sunoco’s best years. Performance improved 11.9% compared with 2007, the previous best year
Major contributors to this improved performance were the maintenance turnarounds and capital improvements that have been made in recent years
Achieving the 2009 represents an additional 6.6% performance improvement*.
* HRVOC air permit exceedances not included in 2009 improvement calculation.
