The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has approved new air permits for Marathon Petroleum’s Detroit refinery after a public comment period earlier this year.

The permit changes will allow Marathon to operate the refinery — located at 1001 South Oakwood — at “full capacity,” and set new pollutant emission caps for the facility. Previously, the refinery was limited to producing an average of 140,000 barrels a day.

Andy Drury, an environmental engineer with EGLE, says the department will require Marathon to continue air quality monitoring through at least 2030.

“One of the bigger things is Marathon has been doing ambient air monitoring at their facility, and they have agreed based on the comments to continue for at least six more years,” Drury said.

Key updates to the permit include the removal of outdated regulatory references, an extension of the air monitoring program, and increasing the height of a refinery stack to 35 feet.

More: Union workers strike at Detroit Marathon refinery

Jeff Tricoff, a relief operator at Marathon’s Detroit refinery and a member of  Teamsters Local 283, was among several residents who expressed concerns about increased capacity at the facility at a public hearing hosted by EGLE in May.

“As workers, we know that operating everything at 100% has to be done effectively and efficiently and done by experienced people,” Tricoff said at the meeting. “Right now we are in a labor dispute with our current contract having expired on Feb. 1, and Marathon is preparing to bring in temporary workers to take our position.”

Just last week, refinery workers represented by the union voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The new permits were approved on Sept. 10.

Marathon also operates an asphalt terminal at 301 S. Fort St., and a light products terminal at 12700 Toronto St., both in Southwest Detroit.

WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

A new study published this week found people with asthma have an especially hard time breathing properly in Detroit.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America rated the Motor City the third worst municipality in the nation for those who routinely need to use an inhaler or nebulizer.

The foundations’ president, Kenneth Mendez, says the group weighed how many people in a city have asthma, how frequently people die from it and the number of times the condition drives residents to visit an emergency room.

“Detroit ranks high in those three areas and that’s one of the reasons why it’s No. 3 on the list.”

– Kenneth Mendez, president of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Listen: New report ranks Detroit as third worst city in U.S. for those with asthma

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Kenneth Mendez: Detroit ranks high in those three areas and that’s one of the reasons why it’s No. 3 on the list. There’s social determinants of health, there’s family origins related to it, but certainly it really hits communities of color. Black Americans are three times more likely to be diagnosed with asthma, five times more likely to be treated in an emergency room. And Black women have the highest mortality rate of any gender or ethnic group. So those factors really are emblematic of things that we need to do in order to better control our asthma and work with our doctors.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Are those demographic groups especially at risk because they have less access to good health care? Or because the factories or whatever might produce pollution that could exacerbate asthma happen to be based in communities of color or poorer areas?

KM: There are a number of factors that go into it. Clearly, your zip code, where you live, has an impact. You can tell how long someone’s gonna live from that. But access to care, additional pollution in certain areas is a trigger for asthma. People in some communities can’t afford to live in areas that do not have high levels of pollution. Those are the kinds of things that go into asthma exacerbation and triggers if you have asthma.

QK: Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Talib, for one, has long pushed to get the Environmental Protection Agency to take into account the cumulative impact of pollution in a given area if they’re going to issue a permit through the Clean Air or Clean Water Acts. If that kind of legislation was passed, do you think it would really make a difference?

KM: Let me break that into two pieces. One is, I think the laws and policies will help. The EPA has come out with a “tailpipe rule” to reduce emissions from light trucks and cars, which are significant contributors to bad air and carbon dioxide. So I think having pieces of legislation passed, whether they’re at the federal or at the state level, can be very helpful to those with asthma. For example, in local communities, you can have an idling rule on school grounds basically saying when people are picking up their children, they shouldn’t have their cars idling. Reducing those kind of tailpipe emissions can go a long way towards helping people with asthma and allergies, in particular in some of those communities that are disproportionately impacted.

In the big picture, the longer growing seasons, the additional carbon dioxide, all those things have an impact on allergies. And allergies are a trigger for asthma. Those are the things that through federal policies and legislation we can try and eliminate. The Inflation Reduction Act clearly had some incentives to reduce pollution and try and amplify clean energy alternatives. So those kinds of things can make a difference. Climate change, with the longer growing seasons, more intense releases of pollen because of carbon dioxide, are all triggers for allergies and asthma. A lot of people say, ‘I’ve never had allergies before. They’re getting a lot worse.’ And that’s because of the additional load on your system from those triggers. We need to reduce our carbon footprint. That will go a long way towards reducing asthma and allergies.

If you’ve been smelling smoke on the west side of the city, you’re not alone. A large mulch fire started Tuesday evening at Detroit Mulch Co. that continued to burn on Wednesday near Lyndon and Prairie streets. 

Firefighters are still working to extinguish the mulch, which covers a lot that is hundreds of yards long. Some piles of mulch are 20 feet high. 

The smoke is affecting air quality in areas around the region, and residents in nearby neighborhoods are urged to keep their windows closed. 

Crews are pouring water on the fire, but officials say they don’t know how long it will take to completely put out the blaze. No injuries or damages to nearby structures have been reported. 

Other headlines for Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024:

• United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain warned of a potential strike against Stellantis during his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week.
• Ford Motor Company announced Wednesday that it’s changing its plans for producing electric vehicles.
• AAA Michigan is reminding drivers to watch out for students as they head back to school. The first day of classes for the Detroit Public Schools Community District will be Monday, Aug. 26.
• Gas prices in metro Detroit are falling headed into the Labor Day holiday weekend, averaging around $3.50 per gallon — 10 cents per gallon less than last week.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.