Plans to Remove Dangerous Chemicals From Refinery on St. Croix to Commence in March Following EPA Approval

The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it has conditionally approved plans to safely remove dangerous chemicals from systems at the refinery on St. Croix, an announcement coming three months after an EPA inspection of the site concluded that the refinery was essentially a ticking time bomb with the potential for "explosions" and "catastrophic" gas releases.

The EPA said the removal plans are part of a legally binding agreement it entered into on December 5 requiring Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation (PHRT) to remove anhydrous ammonia, liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and amine solutions that currently pose risks at the facility. The EPA said it will oversee the work, which will begin with preparation work starting this month.

Repairs to the ammonia system are scheduled to begin in early March, and chemical removal is scheduled to begin in early April and expected to be complete sometime this summer.

“This is a critical step forward in safely removing harmful chemicals from the facility and away from the community and workers,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “EPA will be there every step of the way, providing oversight of the safe removal to ensure people’s protection. We will provide the public with updates and make real-time air monitoring data available to the community.”

EPA discussed, reviewed and approved the detailed plans for work associated with the agreement that will begin with removal of ammonia, according to a release from the federal agency. PHRT contractors will remove the anhydrous ammonia by transferring the ammonia to specially designed shipping containers. The contractors will then ship these containers off island for sale or proper disposal and will purge and treat any remaining ammonia vapors from the system under closed conditions to prevent vapors from escaping. EPA has approved the plan to remove the ammonia, which provides PHRT, and contractors make repairs to the system before beginning the removal work.