Why Should Delaware Care?
In Spring 2025, residents and elected officials raised alarms about increased air pollution coming from the Delaware City refinery. The problem, which led to hundreds of thousands of pounds of excess sulfur dioxide emissions, occurred when pollution controls were circumvented during necessary repairs. The same thing is about to happen again over the next four weeks.
Air pollution surrounding the Delaware City Refinery is expected to spike over the next four weeks as workers at the facility repair equipment, state officials announced Thursday.
Regulators said the refinery reported that repairs to its coker carbon monoxide boiler will require it to change the way it captures gases emitted during the oil refining process.
Shifting from “primary” pollution controls to “secondary” devices during maintenance activities is what caused the refinery to exceed its permitted air pollution limits during a period last May and June.
During that time, the refinery released nearly a million pounds of sulfur dioxide and other toxic chemicals into the atmosphere.
The Delaware City oil refinery is one of the most complex on the East Coast because it refines both light and heavy crude oil. During the process, which includes the use of extremely high heat, certain “undesirable” components are burnt off creating hazardous gases, such as sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide.
Today, the Delaware City Refining Company, which is owned by PBF Energy, is appealing a state violation order that includes a $300,000 fine for the emissions last spring and for other permit violations in 2024 and 2025.
The company also is facing a lawsuit from an area resident on behalf of her young son, claiming the springtime emissions resulted in over $18,000 in medical bills and expenses.
In a Wednesday statement, the refinery said it had been monitoring the equipment that caused pollution problems last spring and that operators last week “observed new signs of a possible water-tube leak.” To address the leaky equipment, refinery workers need to shut down the boiler system entirely for repairs.
The company said it will lower production rates in order to reduce emissions, and that “modeling indicates that impact will remain well below thresholds for public health.”
The company over the weekend launched a new online monitoring platform, where the public can access data from five new, real-time air monitoring devices installed “around its fenceline.”
On Thursday afternoon, Delaware environmental regulators released the first public notification about sulfur dioxide pollution from the planned repairs. The notification does not estimate the amount released.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said it will “monitor the situation.” Unpermitted emissions “will be assessed for violation and penalties,” the agency stated.
Acute exposure to sulfur dioxide can cause respiratory distress, but state and refinery officials say the current pollution is emitted at a height that is well above ground level where people are.
DNREC also said sulfur dioxide readings did not exceed the federal action limit last spring.
Community reaction
Despite the assurances, some residents are apprehensive about the pollution.
Tim Konkus, owner of the Delaware City Marina, said that everybody who is near the refinery “should be worried about their health.”
“On the one hand, it’s a great thing they’re going to fix it. On the other hand, it’s at great cost while they make billions every year,” Konkus said, while also lamenting that emissions will coincide with a celebration of Delaware City’s Bicentennial on Saturday and Sunday.
House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown, a Democrat whose home district includes Delaware City, also issued a statement criticizing the refinery for the increased air pollution. She also thanked DNREC officials for “their willingness to hold the refinery accountable.”
“By many accounts, this was not an unavoidable accident, but instead the result of decisions made by the refinery, including the decision to delay necessary maintenance despite clear warnings and opportunities to act sooner,” Minor-Brown said.
In the statement, Minor-Brown did not propose policy changes, nor did she note whether the pollution may place the refinery into the status of “chronic violators,” under a relatively new Pollution Accountability Act.
Refinery signed new consent order
Thursday’s notice of increased air pollution came only a day after state regulators announced a separate consent order related to a Thanksgiving 2025 release of butane and butane-related chemicals from the Delaware City refinery.
Through that agreement, signed by facility manager Michael Capone, the Delaware City refinery must provide real-time air monitoring data on emissions of volatile organic compounds, known as VOCs.
In addition to the company’s new fenceline pollution sensors, DNREC also maintains air monitors east of the refinery on Route 9 and farther to the west near Lums Pond that provide hourly sulfur dioxide readings that can be found at de.gov/data.
Call to action: Residents can learn more by calling the Delaware City Refining Company Community Information Line at 302-834-6200. The public can report problems and concerns related to environmental issues to DNRECs complaint line at 800-662-8802.
