Houston refinery gets TCEQ permit

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The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality renewed the air pollution permit for the largest refinery in the Houston area and denied the city’s request to have a public hearing on the permit.

TCEQ Chairman Bryan Shaw and Commissioner Carlos Rubinstein said the panel voted to grant LyondellBasell Industries’ 10-year permit Wednesday without a hearing because the company is not seeking an increase in emissions.

According to the Texas Clean Air Act, the TCEQ cannot grant a hearing on a renewal unless the firm wants to increase emissions or has a poor compliance record.

The Lyondell renewal application complied with the existing permit, plus the draft permit calls for a 31 percent reduction in emissions of the carcinogen benzene over the previous annual cap, the company said.

In 2008, the city of Houston made the rare request to have a public hearing arguing that the state shouldn’t grant another permit for the complex along the Houston Ship Channel without a trial-like process on the refinery’s benzene emissions.