Sep 22, 2014 3 min read

The flaring at MarkWest’s natural gas processing plant in Chartiers Township that sent flames and thick plumes of smoke into the air from an unpermitted fractionator on multiple occasions last year will cost the company more than $150,000 in fines.

The state Department of Environmental Protection reached two separate consent agreements with MarkWest earlier this year because of the smoky flaring and for accusations by regulators that the company did not have approval to run the system.

The flaring incidents at the facility on Route 519 near Houston began with one event in November 2012 but became a bigger issue in July and August 2013, when nearby residents reported thick smoke pouring from a fractionator stack after workers installed a new de-ethanizer. The DEP said it received another complaint that October and on two occasions this January.

The consent agreement reached April 7 for the flaring found the black smoke registered more than 60 percent opacity Aug. 22, 2013, and Jan. 6 and 14.

“What makes it complicated for us is that we have to personally witness the smoke, but we encouraged people to send us pictures so we know where it’s coming from,” DEP spokesman John Poister said.

MarkWest spokesman Robert McHale previously said the incidents were caused by a safety system that redirected natural gas liquid to be burned off in the flare, and that it performed as designed.

As part of the consent agreement, MarkWest was required to modify the “thermosyphon reboiler piping” to reduce the chance of smoke releases that came from a vapor lock in the system. The company also installed a specially designed “flare tip” to minimize any smoke coming from the burn-off of butane.

If there is another flaring event, the company must have a certified worker begin taking opacity readings within 15 minutes and continue to do so for its duration. Workers also must notify DEP within one hour and provide readings to environmental regulators.

The other agreement reached Aug. 4 is in response to the DEP’s assertion that MarkWest constructed and began operating the system in 2011 without first obtaining regulatory approval. The company submitted its application to the DEP by a Sept. 15 deadline, and environmental regulators are now reviewing that document, which Poister said could take “a few months” to be approved.

MarkWest was fined $80,000 for that violation.

“In 2011, MarkWest installed a new process control device intended to enhance the operational safety of the plant and the surrounding community,” McHale said by email Monday night. “In implementing this improvement, MarkWest inadvertently omitted the newly configured flare from the permitting process.”

McHale said the consent order was meant to “correct that oversight.”

Poister said the system fractionator will not be put back into production until after DEP approves the application.

The plant was the site of a lightning strike in May that forced the evacuation of nearby homes for several hours. The two consent agreements between the DEP and MarkWest do not involve that situation.