To: Tacoma.methanol.sepa@cityoftacoma.org

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

EIS Scoping Comments: Tacoma Manufacturing and Marine Export Facility (TMMEF): “Proposed Methanol Plant”: SEPA Lead Agency: City of Tacoma (File No. SEPA2015-40000260025).

My comment applies to potential environment impact upon Tacoma and surrounding communities:

Hydrogen Sulfide and Our Community Air

Since we don’t know the sources from which feed the Tacoma LNG and Methanol Facilities natural gas supply raw product input to process—sour gas, sweet gas, fracking gas, or just natural gas, and from which specific location mined; as a result, we must monitor the air hazards introduced into Tacoma Community forever.

It will become necessary to setup monitor multiple air inventory monitor stations within Tacoma Port and Tacoma Community neighborhoods (also Federal Way and Fife Wash.) that will detect and record hydrogen sulfide (“H₂S”) content and the amount of hydrogen sulfide within our air inventory at the sampling station. This air monitoring must be done for Community(s) people health and illness prevention. See generally, Hydrogen Sulfide, Oil and Gas, and People’s Health Energy and Resources Group University of California, Berkeley, http://www.bouldercounty.org/doc/landuse/hydrogensulfidestudy.pdf (last visited Mar 1, 2016).

The potential stationary hydrogen sulfide source potential emitters

“flaring operations at both oil and gas facilities, venting, wastewater pits, and an oil refinery….”, supra at 45. The H₂S air monitor stations should be located to detect emissions from these emitters.

Also we need H2S air monitor stations along length of natural gas piping distribution system pips and all pumping stations where possibility of piping gasket leakage or pumping station seals could leak, supra at 8, note 21. This is important to those persons’ health living within proximity to this distribution natural gas system that feeds the Methanol Facility and LNG Facility.

Oil and gas operations may emit hydrogen sulfide, routinely or accidentally, during the extraction, storage, trans port, or processing stage.²⁰ During of extraction, hydrogen sulfide may be released into the atmosphere at wellheads, pumps, piping, separation devices, oil storage tanks, water storage vessels, and during flaring operations.²¹ Flares burn gases that cannot be sold as well as gases at points in the system where operating problems may occur, as a safety measure. Because it cannot be sold, hydrogen sulfide is routinely flared. Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) is the product of combusting hydrogen sulfide, but in the event of incomplete combustion, H₂S may be emitted into the atmosphere. Supra at 8.

Community health and wellness requires we monitor our air

Because we have potential of three hazards present within Tacoma Port—natural gas piping system, LNG Facility, and Methanol Facility—we need to monitor the air we Tacoma Community people must breath: as a result, to know when our health is affected and to what extent by these industrial process(s) operating within our Tacoma Community.

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