Texas Firms Underscore Commitment to Going Green

From railroads acquiring cleaner-running engines to food-production plants using landfill gas for energy, firms rekindle responsibility to environment; also, Fluor builds world's largest offshore wind farm.

BNSF Railway Co. Implements New Locomotives, Buys Acreage in Dallas Hub

BNSF Railway Co. placed 67 GenSet switch locomotives in service for the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas. The GenSets were acquired through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Emissions Reduction Incentive Grants Program, which provides grants to eligible projects in non-attainment areas and affected counties.

The GenSet locomotive is a low-horsepower switch locomotive with three engines that operate only as needed, potentially reducing nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions by 80-90% and improving fuel efficiency by 15% over standard switch engines.

In addition to the delivery of the GenSets, over the past decade, BNSF has acquired about 2,700 low-emissions, more fuel-efficient locomotives, replacing a significant portion of its 6,400-engine road and switch fleets. One type of locomotive that BNSF has acquired is the GE Evolution Services locomotive.

BNSF purchased 198 acres of land in the Dallas Logistics Hub from The Allen Group of Dallas. In conjunction with the sale, the parties entered into an option agreement giving BNSF the right to purchase an additional 164 acres.

The acquisition, in the cities of Lancaster and Dallas, provides more than 9,000 ft of rail frontage and represents a portion of the 2.5 mi of BNSF track frontage within the Dallas Logistics Hub.

Waco Company Switches to Landfill Gas for Energy Production at Plant

The Mars Snackfood U.S. plant in Waco began using landfill gas to cut the company's energy costs and the release of greenhouse gases into the environment. The project will use methane gas that is piped in from the city landfill to power two furnaces that create steam for the plant's candy-making operations.

In addition to saving the company $600,000 a year in energy costs, the project will also reduce more than 10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which has the same environmental impact of avoiding the emissions of 1,900 cars. Methane, a primary component of landfill gas, is a greenhouse gas over 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Mars Snackfood joins a growing list of companies to complete waste-to-energy projects as part of the EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program. There are currently 21 operational projects in Texas and a total of 34 throughout the five-state area that makes up EPA Region 6.

EPA Region 6 has developed a pilot Waste-to-Energy Strategic Geographic Planning tool that is designed to link waste producers with end users by identifying optimum locations for such projects. The region is currently working with the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to expand the pilot to a national scale.

Fluor to Build World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm

Irving-based Fluor Corporation signed a contract with Scottish and Southern Energy to design and construct the 500 MW Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm. The venture is the world's largest offshore wind farm project to move into the construction phase and will be built approximately 25 kilometers off the Suffolk coast of the United Kingdom. The new award will be booked in the company's second quarter of 2008 and is worth approximately $1.8 billion.

It will be the first UK offshore wind farm to be built outside territorial waters and will provide carbon neutral, renewable electricity for more than 415,000 homes. The wind farm project has been developed by a joint venture between Fluor International Limited and Airtricity (acquired by SSE in February). Having successfully completed the development phase and signed the construction contract, Fluor sold its 50% stake in Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Ltd to SSE for approximately $80 million.

Construction will start in summer 2009 with work to prepare the site for the onshore substation already under way. The wind farm will be commissioned in two phases, with the entire construction scheduled to be completed in 2011.

Valero Fined $1.65 Million for 2006 Oil Spill in Corpus Christi Ship Channel

Valero Refining-Texas LP agreed to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act stemming from a spill of 3,400 barrels of oil into the Corpus Christi Ship Channel on June 1, 2006, according to the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Corpus Christi Ship Channel flows from Tule Lake into Corpus Christi Bay and into the Gulf of Mexico. It is heavily utilized by barge and commercial ship traffic.

Under the consent decree lodged in federal court in Corpus Christi, Valero will pay a $1.65 million civil penalty and perform a supplemental environmental project that will cost approximately $300,000. The project will require Valero to design and construct a boat ramp that will aid emergency-response efforts in the vicinity of the oil spill.

The government's complaint alleged that at least 3,400 barrels, or 142,800 gallons, of oil spilled from a containment berm located on the edge of the ship channel at Valero's Corpus Christi Refinery-West Plant into the channel. Valero has since removed the containment berm and the associated above-ground storage tank from the edge of the ship channel in order to prevent future oil discharges.

The penalty paid for these spills will be deposited in the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is used to pay for the federal cleanups of oil spills.

3,500-Ft Long Stone Barrier Placed in Coastal Town to Fight Erosion

Completion of a revetment, or stone barrier, nearly .75-mi long designed to protect Beach Drive in the village of Surfside was completed in late July, before the most intense part of the summer storm and hurricane season begins.

The $2 million revetment – using 19,300 tons of rock – provides a 3,500-ft long barrier stretching from Texas Street to Whelk Street, protecting the entire length of Beach Drive. The barrier will act to absorb the wave energy and storm tides that chew up 10 to 15 ft of beach a year in the area.

Surfside suffers one of the highest erosion rates in the state, leaving several homes built on dry land now standing on the public beach. State officials have worked with the owners of these beach properties to remove their structures from the public beach, attempting to balance private property rights with public beach access.

In 2006, a total of 37 homes were on the public beach at Surfside in violation of the Texas Open Beaches Act in such a manner as to be priorities for removal as outlined under the state's Plan for Texas Open Beaches.

Since then, 14 property owners have moved their houses off the beach and taken advantage of a $50,000 offer from the Texas Land Office to reimburse moving expenses. Surfside city officials removed or demolished nine more structures via a Federal Emergency Management Agency buyout. Several properties remain on the public beach and will be seaward of the revetment, says Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson. Litigation regarding the removal of those homes continues.

Port of Houston Authority Receives Export Trade Award

The Port of Houston Authority received the 2007 President's "E Star" Award for export service, in recognition of its continuing support of export growth in the U.S. business community for at least five years. PHA was among only four U.S. organizations to receive the prestigious award this year.

The Port of Houston experienced an overall year-over-year export trade growth between 4% and 9% from 2002 to 2006. Brazil was among the leading export trading partners, with 2.024 million short tons in 2006. In terms of U.S. dollars, exports to Belgium totaled $2.36 billion. Among leading Houston exports, mineral fuel oil in 2006 was 21.7 million short tons. In terms of U.S. dollars, exports of machinery totaled $9.45 billion. Most impressive is the growth of export containerized cargoes, with 734,799 TEUs in 2006.

The E Star Award marks the second time the PHA has been recognized for its export trade programs. The first, in 1981, was the "E Award." A company receives the E Star after it has previously received the E Award, and no recipient can be recognized more than twice.

Lummus Technology Awarded Contract from PL Propylene LLC

Lummus Technology, a CB&I company of The Woodlands, has been awarded a contract from Houston-based PL Propylene LLC - a Petro Logistics company - for the license and basic engineering of the proprietary CATOFIN technology. The 1.2 billion pound (or 544 million metric ton per annum) capacity propane dehydrogenation plant, designed to produce both chemical grade and polymer grade propylene, will be located near the Houston Ship Channel.

The CATOFIN dehydrogenation process features the use of Süd-Chemie's latest CATOFIN catalyst in reliable fixed-bed reactors. The process operates at optimum reactor pressure to maximize conversion of propane for a high yield of propylene and correspondingly low investment and operating costs. The contract marks the first propane dehydrogenation unit in the United States and the largest design capacity to date in the world.