[StBernard] Murphy Lab Article

[Westley Annis]

Letter to the Editor in response to T/P article   

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-27/1206854406135
090.xml&coll=1


Murphy Oil Expansion into our residential neighborhood:

If we are to become the next Louisiana large refinery town, we need to
provide for the protection of our people's health, safety and welfare and we
cannot make the appropriate determinations without the entire future
refinery expansion plans.

There are health, safety and welfare concerns with the placement of heavy
industry into a residential neighborhood.  I dont see anyone volunteering
Jumonville nor Lexington to provide space for Murphy's warehouse, lab,
storage facilities, parking lots and the like. So too, our residential
neighborhood is not available.

  I2 -  heavy industrial is always conditional use and with every use of
heavy industrial zoning special consideration is to be given to the effects
on the neighboring land (our children and our homes).  The residents need to
be informed, have access to all the information through reasonable means
(not having to make special public document requests under freedom of
information laws) and have adequate public notice - with no special short
noticed meetings from either the planning commission nor the council.  The
residents are to be allowed adequate time of access to all the information
and adequate time to comment and be "fully heard" at public hearings
(according to home rule charter).


To preserve the integrity of our St Bernard Parish residential neighborhood
just west of the Murphy Oil Refinery, we seem to have more protection from
bar rooms, truckstops, drycleaners and rentals then we do oil refineries. St
Bernard Parish codes only require 100 feet between Heavy Industry and
residential, where other parishes require 600 ft (St James) and up to 2,500
ft (St Charles).  The Murphy refinery doesnot comply now, nor does its
laboratory renderings  comply with the minimum 100 foot buffer. It is also a
breach of the crude oil spill settlement and to imply the use of the buffer
zone is subject to interpretation is just absurd.  Industry wide buffer
zones are not used for expansions (unless you expand the buffer).   Without
knowledge of what chemicals are at the refinery or in this lab and without
the emergency prevention provisions and worse case scenarios for t he
current and expanded Murphy refinery, we cannot comment on what would be
appropriate, yet we know 100 feet is not. The last explosion of 2003 had
detrimental effects on our community (not just the four western blocks of
the buffer zone) and nothing has changed since.  That same ROSE Unit could
explode today, releasing toxic chemicals which the public has not been
informed of.  How will the next explosion effect us if the parish council,
new administration and Murphy Oil not only lower the buffer but place more
hazards closer to our home?


Our residents are very concerned about the added number of transients and
industrial traffic in the neighborhood.  If the refinery administration
office is to be located on the north side of Judge Perez and Gallo/Charles
Drives, with 200 employees and contractors, how are they going to travel
from the office building to the refinery?from their out of town homes to the
lab?(as Murphy doesnot have permanent employment for many domiciled
residents)  Our only high school is just blocks away at Judge Perez and
Palmisano.  Children who live within a mile have no bus service, they walk
home.  And in our neighborhood we have no sidewalks (due to Murphy's
demolitions). 

 During the Murphy buyout demolitions and crude oil spill remediation
projects (which are still on going) residents continually called SBSO (St
Bernard Sheriff Office) regarding trespassing and suspicious activity of
transient Murphy workers.  This occurred prekatrina as well, as Murphy
employs alot of transients who know no boundaries and think nothing of
parking in our residential streets.  In June 2007 finally the SBSO did come
out to investigate and they arrested a Murphy worker trespassing, stealing
and carrying a gun.  Refinery's spokesperson response was irresponsible as
he said it was a contractors subcontractor and that we (the residents)
should inform our neighborhood block captains that these workers carry guns.


According to our District C Representative who works at Murphy, the Meraux
Refinery is noncompliant with OSHA hazard zones/explosion cones and that is
why the refinery wants to move facilities (not processing units) into our
residential neighborhood.  What are the explosion cones of the existing
refinery and the total refinery expansion plan? Since when is our
residential neighborhood under OSHA regulations and not the more protective
regulations for children (noise, emissions, vibrations, explosion cones)?

Finally, there should be a correction in the T/P article regarding the Jacob
Drive Firestation.  The council didnot vote to sell the firestation; they
voted on a resolution to authorize the administration to participate in
discussions to participate in the voluntary buyout with regards to the Jacob
Drive Firestation.  How can the council or administration state that at
Jacob Drive and Judge Perez that land is for the crude oil spill class
action law suit settlement to create a buffer zone, yet say the land at
Jacob Drive and St Bernard Hwy (sold under the same federal court order ) is
available for refinery expansion? I for one believe that should the Jacob
Drive firestation ever be taken out of service it should be due to the
insurance rating firestation placement decisions (which keep our safety and
our fire protection and emergency response times paramount in these
determinations) and that it should not be political nor should it be to
accommodate nor facilitate the refinery's expansion. To move the firestation
from Jacob to Lena doesnot have anything to do with the crude oil spill as
Lena is also part of the buyout area. Selling the Jacob Drive Firestation to
Murphy is purely to accommodate their expansion. Why arent there public bids
for this public property? Why are all the meetings executive session, yet
include Murphy representatives (in violation of open meeting laws)?

 If Jacob Drive Firestation is taken out of service, it should be designated
greenspace.  If they decide to sell to Murphy it should be priced at least
what the St Bernard Hwy property sold for ($420,000) and not the mere
$200,000.  If they are going to sell us out, we should at least get modern
firestations with equipment and a separate public library (perhaps east of
the land we already purchased for a library, which is now being considered
available for Murphy's expansion).

If we are to become the next Louisiana large refinery town, we need to
provide for the protection of our people's health, safety and welfare and we
cannot make the appropriate determinations without the entire future
refinery expansion plans.

SJK

http://concernedcitizensaroundmurphy.blogspot.com/