Two environmental groups on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015 sought legal advice from a Delaware Superior Court judge on a forum to appeal state action expanding crude-by-rail (CBR) activity in the First State.
Increased activity at the Delaware City Refinery Co.'s crude oil shipping operations is being questioned by both the Delaware chapter of the Sierra Club and the Delaware Audubon Society. Both told Superior Court Judge Andrea L. Rocanelli that the two boards the groups have attempted to address the appeal with have declined any interest.
Attorneys for the refinery and the state argued Thursday that those boards did so because they did not have jurisdiction, according to local media. Delaware City is located roughly 15 miles south of Wilmington, Del.,
The Delaware City refinery, served by Norfolk Southern, handles both product produced in North Dakota's Bakken fields, and also heavier Canadian oil products.
A 2013 order by the state secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control amended an air pollution control permit for the refinery. By doing so, the order allowed crude oil to be loaded onto vessels at the Delaware River docking facility, used to transport crude oil by barge across the river to New Jersey points.
The environmental groups say this expansion of rail-to-ship crude oil is a violation of the Coastal Zone Act, which beginning in 1972 banned new heavy industries or bulk transfer facilities along much of the Delaware River. Earlier appeals by the two groups in 2013 to the state's Environmental Appeals Board were denied.
Delaware has declined to publicly disclose when and where CBR train moves occur within or through the state, citing security concerns.