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Challenge Dismissed to Delaware Refinery Air Quality, PEPCO Gets Rate Hike Permit

PBF Energy

DOVER, Del. (AP) - A state panel has voted to dismiss an appeal by environmental groups of a permit granted by Delaware regulators for a new crude oil transfer operation at the Delaware City refinery.

Members of Delaware's Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to dismiss the appeal by the Sierra Club and the Delaware Audubon Society, ruling that they had no standing to challenge an air quality permit granted to PBF Energy in May.

Environmentalists argued that the crude oil transfer operation was not allowed under Delaware's Coastal Zone Act, a 42-year-old law designed to protect the state's coastal environment from industrial pollution.

The permit involves the transfer of crude oil received by train at a new rail facility to barges for shipment to another PBF refinery in Paulsboro, N.J.

PEPCO

Credit Don Rush

Consumer groups including AARP are trying to see if there is anything they can do to ease a rise in rates by Potomac Electric Power Company or PEPCO.

Last week, the Maryland Public Service Commission approved another hike.

Maryland News Connection reporter Allison Burns has the story.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.