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Motiva Enterprises (2719), Convent

Releases of Process Wastewater

LDEQ Accident Number
Accident Date		 Point Source(s) Notes Amount of Release
05-BB011-3170

2005-10-25		SASTU and aeration basin
Cause: Shutdown of forward flow due to sulfuric acid in the wastewater syste

Followup: Yes

Notes: Will update status of incident in October DMR including volume of the transfer into south surge pond and sampling and monitoring results. Due to the shutdown of the forward flow through the process treatment system and the low pH the biological system was exposed to, we have experienced some biological die off. May see a spike in BOD and other parameters until biological system returns to full healt
146055

2013-01-14		outfall 001
Cause: Upset conditions which led to a Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (LPDES) bypass as a result of extraordinary amounts of rainfall brought by slow moving thunderstorms that caused flash flooding over several days. The facility was being operated properly prior to conditions brought on by the severe weather event but the excessive amounts of rainfall over an extended number of days consumed the refinery's wastewater treatment system as well as all of it's surge capacity to a point at which there was a significant threat to the facility's infrastructure and safety of its employees operating energized equipment.

Followup: Yes

Notes: The event was not considered an emergency condition. Process wastewater mixed heavily with rain water was discharge from Outfall 001 at an average rate of 650 gpm. Discharging began on 1/14/2013 at 2:35 pm and was intermittent until 1/17/2013 at 1:10 pm, at whihc time it was determined that the wastewater treatment system was no longer threatened and Motiva could process the remainder of the water consuming the capacity of the surge tanks and surge ponds. To minimize or eliminate threats, Motiva began discharging process wastewater mixed heavily with rain water from Outfall 001. This bypass was unavoidable as a result of the upset condition. Concurrently with the excessive stormwater runoff, there was an incident that caused a slightly higher pH in the wastewater treatment system. Two incidents where the pH exceeded 9.0 standard unites for greater than 60 minutes consecutively. Motiva immediately began implementation of measures to adjust the pH to within the permitted limits and began an investigation into the cause. The root cause is unknown and still under investigation. They claim that this process wastewater did not have a significant impact on the water quality of the Mississippi River and no exceedances of Motiva's LPDES Permi are anticipated