Coke Mountain, Detroit

**Bham1982** · May-19-13, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

Yes, they are 'owned' by the government. They are in no way a mouthpiece for the conservative Harper government. Harper and company rightly hate the CBC. The feeling is mutual.

I have no idea if the CBC is considered "liberal" or "conservative" [[not a fan of these labels anyways), but they're definitely huge defenders of the Tar Sands. The CBS has been a very strong mouthpiece in defense of the status quo in Alberta. IMO, Canada, if it continues down this path, may eventually be a quasi-Petro-State. You already see the effects of Tar Sands, with less money going towards innovation, and non-oil exports harmed by the increased Canadian dollar.

**Wesley Mouch** · May-19-13, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Are those our only choices? I'd say there's a third way.

No. But no other achievable, sustainable choices come to mind. I'm all ears.

**Whitehouse** · May-20-13, 06:18 PM

Link.

A Marathon spokesperson told Fox 2 they sold the pet coke. It is now the property of Koch Carbon. Koch Carbon is part of Koch Industries, run by Charles and David Koch.When the huge black mounds that sit on the riverbanks of southwest Detroit just appeared one day, residents were puzzled and concerned.
“One of the biggest concerns when we saw the black piles is what is it, and where is it coming from?” said State Representative Rashida Tlaib [[D-Detroit). She said residents contacted her worried that the black piles could be toxic.

....hmm

**Whitehouse** · May-20-13, 06:20 PM

Oops... Seems to be a double post.

**Hermod** · May-20-13, 07:35 PM

Amazing the amount of intellectual dishonesty in the link.

1. Marathon Petroleum, not the Koch Brothers is producing the petcoke and stacking it up along the river.

2. One of the Koch's, not the more famous "brothers" owns a company that is buying the petcoke and will resell and deliver it. Oxbow doesn't make a penny off the petcoke until they remove it from Detroit and deliver it to the ultimate consumer.

3. If DYesers want to get their panties in a wad over this, they should picket and boycott the Speedway stations which are owned by Marathon Petroleum.

**MikeM** · May-20-13, 08:17 PM

Marathon is producing the coke, but it's no longer theirs once it leaves the property. Koch Carbon is the owner, not Oxbow, so yes, the Koch brothers is correct. The company doing the storing is Detroit Bulk Storage, a Canadian-owned company.

**Honky Tonk** · May-20-13, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by MikeM

Marathon is producing the coke, but it's no longer theirs once it leaves the property. Koch Carbon is the owner, not Oxbow, so yes, the Koch brothers is correct. The company doing the storing is Detroit Bulk Storage, a Canadian-owned company.

So the Canadians are upset with a Canadian company for storing coke on US soil. Except they probably don't know it's a Canadian company, they probably think it's those damn Yanks. Too bad we can't get Detroit Bulk Storage to start storing it on their side of the river.

**MikeM** · May-20-13, 09:23 PM

Oh, it gets better Honky Tonk. The coke is produced from Canadian oil, the coke is being hauled away on Canadian freighters to....Canada! Nova Scotia. Some is being burned in a power plant in Canada while the rest sits on a coal shipping dock in Nova Scotia, uncovered, next to the water.

**MikeM** · May-20-13, 09:31 PM

And before we get too outraged, there are piles of pet coke sitting outside of refineries throughout the country. Any refinery processing heavy crude oil with a coker unit is producing this as a byproduct. It's hauled away by barge, ship, or train. It's just a new scene here.

**JBMcB** · May-20-13, 10:11 PM

It could be seen as payback for the enormous pile of slag kept by Algoma that can be seen across the waterway from Sault St. Marie.

**Honky Tonk** · May-21-13, 04:38 AM

Can we change the name of this thread? My nose starts watering everytime I read the title....

**canuck** · May-21-13, 04:50 AM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Can we change the name of this thread? My nose starts watering everytime I read the title....

You could ship it to Toronto's shoreline, Rob Ford is a pretty big fella, he might be into snorting that size a line.

**renf** · May-21-13, 07:54 AM

Am I correct in thinking that Norfolk Southern railroad owns the land on the Detroit River were Detroit Bulk Storage stacks up the pet coke produced
at the Marathon Refinery in southwest Detroit. Are trucks used to get the
pet coke from the refinery to the riverfront?

**WPitonya** · May-21-13, 07:58 AM

This pile got a shout out on The Daily Show last night after Jon Stewart did a story on the gunk boiling up from a street in China.

**Whitehouse** · May-21-13, 01:18 PM

Here's the link. Dailyshow with Jon Stewart,

**Whitehouse** · May-22-13, 12:07 PM

Here's an item on Current TV.

**Jimaz** · May-22-13, 12:27 PM

The Koch Bros' Killer Carbon Mountain

Thom Hartmann talks with Pastor D. Alexander Bullock, Founder & National Spokesperson-Change Agent Consortium [[ActionCAC), about a toxic mountain of coke waste from Canadian tar sand controlled by Koch Carbon in Detroit.

**MikeM** · May-22-13, 12:33 PM

Maybe we should ask the other 40 or so cities that have refineries producing pet coke what they are doing to regulate it. See if they have any good ideas.

**Jimaz** · May-22-13, 01:29 PM

I found some photos that give an idea of the scale of these piles.

From Windsor Star: Petcoke piles don’t pose health hazard, says state agency:

From Business Insider: The Koch Brothers Have Buried An Area The Size Of A City Block Under 30 Feet Of Oil Sands Waste:

**Wesley Mouch** · May-22-13, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by MikeM

Maybe we should ask the other 40 or so cities that have refineries producing pet coke what they are doing to regulate it. See if they have any good ideas.

There's an idea for you. You think there are other piles around the world that are receiving absolutely no attention whatsoever? You can bet on it.

But us? We're paranoid and think we're special. We're not. This is what actual productive industry looks like. With luck, you'll see more, not less, piles along the river. With luck, you'll see less, nor more, idiots spouting off about things they know nothing about.

**MikeM** · May-22-13, 01:59 PM

Don't forget Canada. Ask Canada how they regulate it. Ask Sydney, Nova Scotia how they deal with the large coke piles on the waterfront. Or Alberta, with the upgraders and synthetic refineries in the oil sands area.

**Wesley Mouch** · May-22-13, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

I found some photos that give an idea of the scale of these piles...

Great photos. How exciting to see our waterfront being used again. Is this just about where those gas storage tanks used to be?

**MikeM** · May-22-13, 05:35 PM

Yes, and slightly northeast of where huge coal piles stood for decades, used to feed the gas plant.

**Jimaz** · May-22-13, 06:57 PM

As a possibly-irrelevant-but-curious footnote, I noticed the second and third photos from The Star had a distorted aspect ratio as displayed on their website.

I was able to correct this in the images above by removing some explicit width and height arguments from their URLs. It's most noticeable in the second Star website image where two tire bumpers hanging from the edge of the dock appear elongated in the vertical direction [[same with the earthmover tires there).

The only reason I mention it is that the issue of angle of repose often comes up when discussing such piles and a distorted aspect ratio would definitely confuse that issue. The Star website photos make the piles appear steeper than they are.

I'm not trying to suggest that The Star was trying to be deceptive. I just think it was an oversight that [[oops!) might matter in an engineering sense.

**MikeM** · May-31-13, 12:11 PM

Mich. Dem Congressman Wants Pet Coke Study Before KXL Approval

A U.S. congressman is calling for a complete health review of petroleum coke before Washington approves the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Michigan Representative Gary Peters claims that one third of the cheap, combustible carbon byproduct, used mainly in overseas power plants, comes from the Alberta oilsands.
He announced Tuesday in Detroit that he intends to introduce legislation next week calling for a complete and comprehensive study of the environmental and health effects of petroleum coke, also known as pet coke.

"Last week, I attempted to get an amendment on the Keystone Pipeline legislation to make sure we have health studies related to pet coke. This is basically a byproduct of the refining of heavy oil, tarsands, which is coming from Alberta," Peters said.

"We need to get the answers now because the piles that we're seeing here along the Detroit River, we're likely to see many, many more piles in cities all across the U.S. and other places," Peters said. "We need to better understand this material and the impact this material has on the environment and on public health."

The pitch black carbon-based fuel began arriving in Detroit months ago. The three-storey piles are left uncovered near the waterway that connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, which provides drinking water to millions.

The pet coke is being stored on land owned by billionaire Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun and is being managed by Detroit Bulk Storage.

"It's time to be asking some very serious questions about the activity that is occurring here," Peters said. "Eventually, it impacts all of us."

Cherrin said that in October 2012, before any pet coke was received or stored, the yard was asphalted in order to have an impermeable surface.

The pad was specifically sloped away from the Detroit River so that any accumulated water would gather in one location so that it could be treated under the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan.