Emmanuel Talks Tough, But Fine Print Show Big Fat Loophole For Petcoke Storage, Use In Chicago
Faced with public outrage about gritty black dust blowing through Chicago’s Southeast Side, Mayor Rahm Emanuel talked of forcing towering mounds of petroleum coke out of Chicago and outlawing new piles with costly regulations. But the fine print of a zoning ordinance unveiled Tuesday by the Emanuel administration opens the door for greater use of the high-sulfur, high-carbon refinery byproduct in the city.
Under changes outlined at a hearing of the City Council’s powerful zoning committee, companies would be allowed to store and burn petroleum coke in Chicago if “consumed onsite as part of a manufacturing process.” The special exemption also would allow companies to burn stockpiles of coal.
The changes appear to be a step back from Emanuel’s tough rhetoric about petroleum coke, also known as petcoke. In February, the mayor told local television and radio stations he wanted to drive petcoke operators out of town. “Through the regulations we’re going to put in, it’s going to be very expensive to operate here and therefore they are going to choose to leave,” Emanuel told WBEZ radio at the time. “We’re going to make sure the ordinance puts up a ‘not wanted’ sign in the City of Chicago as it relates to petcoke.”
New city regulations require the operators of three storage terminals on the Calumet River to enclose petcoke and coal within two years and take additional steps to curb lung-damaging dust. The proposed zoning ordinance would ban those facilities from expanding, but the exemption would clear the way for more black piles to start popping up around the city.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-emanuel-ordinance-grants-zoning-exemption-for-petcoke-20140401,0,4939444.story
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