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Case Concern Example: Incident Number 100 103 - On October 11t\ 2007,
concerned citizen Suzanne Kneale contacted LDEQ as to what she described
as a large yellow flickering flare and intermittent noises from Murphy Oil
that had been going on for 12 hours. She stated in her citizen complaint that
she was asked by Murphy to be a "good" neighbor and not call the LDEQ.
The LDEQ investigation found that Murphy had a compressor shut down by
mechanical fault and that until the compressor was repaired, the plant flared
a hydrogen rich recycle gas stream.

Case Concern Example: Incident Number 99828 - From September 28th

until October 1S\ 2007, Murphy released 23,988 pounds of sulfur dioxide in
one incident. Murphy's letter to LDEQ states that the· root cause of the
.incident was a loose wire tripped the fuse supplying power to the valve
solenoid. Regardless of the cause of the release, it went on for 62 hours and
45 minutes and was not reported by Murphy until October 19th, 2007.
However, concerned citizens living in the area around Murphy knew
something was wrong as evidenced by the fact that LDEQ received 4 citizen
complaints between September 29th_30th regarding this incident. The only
information provided to these citizens by the LDEQ was that Murphy
experienced a supply problem with their purchased natural gas and this
caused a flaring incident. The LDEQ report goes on to state that no human
error was involved, no RQ's were exceeded, and that the incident was not
reported by Murphy but rather by citizens.

Citizen Complaint Descriptions from incident number 99828:

"Nauseating, choking odor coming from Murphy Oil."

" ... could see flare at Judge Perez in Arabi ...looks like, another broken piece
of equipment at Murphy."
-September 29th, 2007

"Large flaring.:. bursts of flames coming from Murphy Oil. .. black smoke
pouring out."
-September 30th, 2007

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Case Concern Example: Incident # 111272: There were 2 citizen complaints

made to LDEQ and 3 citizen complaints made to SPOC regarding this incident. The only
information provided by LDEQ regarding this incident is that Matt Dobbins of Murphy
Oil stated that there was no problem with the facility and that he had surveyed the
perimeter of the facility for noise or unusual odors around 8:30AM and did not observe
any loud noises or odors. Even though 4 different citizens complained about horrible
odors and noise coming from the refinery, no problem could be found. NOTE: The
complainant sent an email to SPOC regarding this incident in which she states Matt
Dobbins informed her that Murphy had checked for noise at 8:30am at Jacob Drive and
did not observe anything. It also states that Suzanne checked the LDEQ onsite air
monitors for the Meraux and the Chalmette High air monitors and both showed very high
H2S readings for 5am and 6am.

Case Concern Example Incident # 111247: This was a citizen complaint made
to LDEQ and SPOC regarding flaring at Murphy. The LDEQ report states that Murphy
had received no odor complaints and no releases were verified but that they did have a
brief flare for approximately 8-9 minutes. No other information is provided. I wonder
why this is enough information for the LDEQ and why there is no information included
in the report as to why there was a flare in the first place. This is the exact same
description given in report #110978 for an incident that was reported via citizen
complaint on 11/21 and for # 111211 which was reported on 12/2. These citizen
complaints involved reports of flaring. Both reports say they spoke with Matt Dobbins on
12/4/2008. So, on 11/21 and 12/2 Murphy flared for 8-9 minutes? That seems to be the
case according to the LDEQ reports. NOTE: Citizen complaint # 111247 does not
mention flaring, yet for the description of the investigation of the complaint, LDEQ uses
the verbatim description from the above mentioned citizen complaints regarding flaring
to address this. LDEQ even received an extensive email from citizen Alice Avery in
addition to the citizen complaint she made and yet LDEQ put a generic, previously used
flaring description to address her complaint about chemicals stored in tanks at Murphy.
This is an example of the LDEQ's unwillingness to thoroughly investigate and follow up
on citizen complaints.

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Citizen Complaint Descriptions from incident # 111272

"Loud refinery noises with vibrations to house and lots of steaming

with high pitch constant tone at Murphy and odors ... "

Citizen Complaint Descriptions from incident # 111247

"Complainant has noticed choking smell from Murphy Oil tanks for
several years - makes eyes water as well - concerned chemicals may
be causing cancer in the area."

Citizen Complaint Descriptions from incident # 102288

"Flare had huge puff of black smoke followed by blue

flame ... followed by continuous black smoke & mud sediment runoff
every time it rains ... " .

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