Coke Mountain, Detroit

[MikeM]

Thanks Canada. You can have it back now.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/06/07...to-canada.html

[Wesley Mouch]

Thanks Canada. You can have it back now.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/06/07...to-canada.html

I can't believe how ignorant we all are being. This is just a raw material. Its regulated. There's zero evidence that it is any more harmful then the piles of regular coal stacked at power plants all around Detroit -- right by the river!

We should be celebrating that Detroit is part of the US raw material economy. Celebrating that Marathon is refining oil here. Celebrating the Matty Maroun is doing something productive for our economy instead of just abusing us with his monopoly. Celebrating. Not chasing them away.

Reading between the lines, I think Canada has figured out that the faster they can get that valuable commodity away from Detroit -- the better. Oh well, so much for anyone else viewing Detroit as a place where you can ship things. That was tried. And the shippers were vilified. We want jobs. Then when economic activity comes by, we chase the jobs away. Smart.

Koch Brothers. Maroun. Tarsands. River. OMG, the world is ending. No.

[Jimaz]

Thanks Canada. You can have it back now.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/06/07...to-canada.html

Thanks. Informative article.

A Canadian electrical power plant, owned by Nova Scotia Power, is chipping away at the three-story-high, blocklong pile of petroleum coke on Detroit’s waterfront. The company is burning the high-carbon, high-sulfur waste product because it is cheaper than natural gas.

I wonder if they're burning it in Nova Scotia just because there's no downwind population to complain about the pollution.

Its final destination had been something of a mystery. Most petroleum coke, often referred to in the oil industry as petcoke, is used as inexpensive fuel in countries like China, India and Mexico with relatively loose emissions controls. Environmentalists were concerned not only about the impact of the growing pile in Detroit but also about where the material would be burned.

It's allowed to be sold to countries with "loose emissions controls" because why? Because we'll never have to breathe their air? Air is partitioned by country now?

Web sites that track ship movements indicate that one of those ships, the Atlantic Huron has made several trips this year from Detroit to a coal terminal in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Cool. That's shown in the Star photo I posted above.

Despite the regular visits to Detroit by ships to take away the petcoke, the oil sands bitumen refinery there is producing the material at a rate which means the waterfront pile to continues to grow.

Then where does it end? LOL! The piles that ate Detroit.

[downtownguy]

I can't believe how ignorant we all are being. This is just a raw material. Its regulated. There's zero evidence that it is any more harmful then the piles of regular coal stacked at power plants all around Detroit -- right by the river!

Good! Let's put it in your backyard then.

[compn]

when does coke mountain open for skiing?

[compn]

so we're not allowed to have windmills in the detroit river because it would be ugly?
hows that giant trash mountain looking on the river front? looks great to me!

[compn]

has anyone taken one of these harmless rocks and placed it in a fish tank?
you know, just to see how harmless it is to the fish in the detroit river?

you know, that river where the people ... fish?

anyone take a coke rock home for a souvenir?

i caught this cbc news story, they interviewed some fisherman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN03ewsieLs
"why are the canadians bringing the shit over here?"

[Honky Tonk]

Then where does it end? LOL! The piles that ate Detroit.

Pile it on. We'll use it for the X Games.

[Wesley Mouch]

Good! Let's put it in your backyard then.

I'd gladly take the rent -- but my yard isn't waterfront industrial land. That land is and has been industrial for years. We've all just forgotten what industry is like. Piles of stuff in real ports is normal. Have you ever seen those salt piles along the Rouge by the mines?

[sturge]

Made for a nice spotlight on the Diamond Jack tour.

[48217]

And the piles of salt on the Rouge belong to Canada....Morton Salt.

[old guy]

Good luck with the coke piles. Why again do you posses them rather than someone else?

[Honky Tonk]

Good luck with the coke piles. Why again do you posses them rather than someone else?

The money.

[Wesley Mouch]

And the piles of salt on the Rouge belong to Canada....Morton Salt.

Hmm. I liked the idea that Canada is conspiring to pollute us -- and then complain loudly about mucking up their river -- but seems like Morton is from Chicago. Or am I missing the deeper conspiracy?

[Honky Tonk]

Hmm. I liked the idea that Canada is conspiring to pollute us -- and then complain loudly about mucking up their river -- but seems like Morton is from Chicago. Or am I missing the deeper conspiracy?

They're from the Canadian section of Chicago.

[Wesley Mouch]

Must be on the south side.

[48217]

Windsor Salt Mine

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The Windsor Salt Mine currently operates two locations in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The first is at 200 Morton Drive in Windsor, established in 1955, and is owned by The Canadian Salt Company, Limited. The facility has 250 employees, earns roughly $75–99 million a year, producing road and mining salt.^[1] The second location is the Windsor Facility of the Canadian Salt Company, located at 30 Prospect Ave. in Windsor. This facility employs 110 and estimates their sales at $25–50 million a year. It was established much earlier than the first, in 1893. Their main products are salt used for human consumption, water softening and agriculture.^[1] In 2008, Canadian Salt mined approximately 9,500 kilotonnes^[2] from the Windsor mine, 85% of which went to deicing highways, and the remainder for manufacturing caustic soda and chlorine, producing pulp and paper, and water treatment.

Contents 1 History 2 Financial Issues 3 Coordinates 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading

History

In the early days of Canada's European settlement, trappers brought shiploads of salt with them for personal uses such as curing hides and salting meat, as well as trading with the First Nations peoples.^[3] In 1860, the salt industry in the area was begun in Michigan, by the Saginaw Salt and Lumber Company. They began producing salt in limited amounts, as their main industry was lumber.^[3] In roughly 1890, William Van Horne, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway[["CPR"), realized the potential of the region.^[3] The company sunk a test well on CPR's land in Windsor and found salt in 1891.^[3] The test well was supervised by E.G Henderson, the civil engineer who supervised the CPR's London to Windsor Line. He would become the plant manager of the Windsor Salt mine, which was built and operational in 1893.^[3] One reason for the CPR's interest in the Windsor Salt Mine is attributed to a desire to enable the company to haul freight^[4] in order to compete with other railroad companies such as the Grand Trunk Railway. From the beginning, Windsor's mine has been unique in Canada, using a vacuum pan technique that is utilized in the U.S., but not in Canada.^[3] Perhaps this is a tangible symbol of the close connection between the two nations in the border area.
Financial Issues

The Windsor Salt Mine had a difficult start, with a financial crisis in 1897.^[3] By 1910, the Canadian Salt Company, as it was known as since 1901, prospered sufficiently to purchase the Saginaw Lumber and Salt Company.^[3] Shortly before 1928, The Canadian Salt Company moved its operation to Sandwich and shut down its older plant.^[3] In 1928, the mine was purchased by Canadian Industry Limited.^[3] In 1941, Neepawa Salt Company in Manitoba merged with Canadian Industry Limited.^[3] Canadian Industry withdrew from salt manufacturing in 1951, and Windsor, Neepawa, and a mine in Alberta were incorporated by H.R. Milner under the name Canadian Salt Company.^[3] In 1952, the Morton Salt Company of Chicago purchased a large interest in the company and a subsidiary, the Canadian Rock Salt Company, was established.^[3] In 1954, Canadian Industry Limited left Windsor, leaving Morton and the Canadian Rock Salt Company in Windsor.^[3]
In 1954 a sinkhole appeared above the mine, leading to thousands of dollars worth of damage.^[5] This also led to the public fearing for its safety.^[5] The Windsor Mine engineers assured the public that the area was safe, and spent weeks cleaning up the mess. Fifty thousand yards of fill were needed.^[6]
Coordinates

• 200 Morton Drive, Windsor, ON 42.25559°N 83.10386°W
• 30 Prospect Avenue, Windsor, ON 42.28673°N 83.09156°W

See also

[Wingnatic]

Lawmakers Urge Health Risk Study for Detroit River Coke Pile
Michigan Representatives Gary Peters, Sander Levin, John Dingell and John Conyers recently introduced legislation [H.R. 2298] calling for an investigation of any health and environmental risks posed by the three-story mountain of petroleum coke that has been piled up alongside the Detroit River. The petroleum coke is a byproduct of oil refining at the nearby Marathon Refinery, which was recently modified to refine tar sands oil from Canada. For more information, see this article from the New York Times.

New York Times article [[PDF )

[Jimaz]

This is Canada's retaliation for the Zug Hum.

[MikeM]

Environmental groups object to DTE Energy burning pet coke

DTE Energy has burned petroleum coke as a fuel source at its Monroe plant, a state-approved practice that alarms some environmental groups.

DTE officials confirmed Wednesday their Monroe plant had burned pet coke as a fuel source, but said it does not pose a health threat.

“Our tests show that with [[pet coke’s) carbon dioxide emissions, the difference is negligible when compared to coal,” said Randi Berris, a DTE spokeswoman.

The material did not come from the mound along the Detroit River. DTE purchased the pet coke directly from Marathon.

“We have burned it as part of a test in August of 2012 as well as February and March of this year,” Berris said. The tests each lasted less than a month.

The company is permitted by the DEQ to burn up to 1 million tons of the material in calendar year. So far, the company has burned 13,000 tons.

[Wesley Mouch]

Environmental groups object to DTE Energy burning pet coke

Environmental groups object to regular coal too. And they object to the tar sands oil. And most everything else including people.

This is really a non-issue. We are significant issues with all our environmental and energy issues. How to fuel our world, and do so responsibly. Worrying about this pile of pretty benign stuff is pointless.

[MikeM]

A list of refineries in the U.S. producing petroleum coke:

Hunt Refining - Tuscaloosa, AL
BP - Los Angeles, CA
Chevron - El Segundo, CA
ConocoPhillips - Rodeo, CA
ConocoPhillips - Wilmington, CA
ExxonMobil - Torrance, CA
Shell - Martinez, CA
Tesoro - Martinez, CA
Tesoro - Wilmington, CA
Valero - Benicia, CA
Valero - Wilmington, CA
PBF - Delaware City, DE
ExxonMobil - Joliet, IL
Marathon - Robinson, IL
Citgo - Lemont, IL
WRB - Wood River, IL
BP - Whiting, IN
Coffeyville Resources - Coffeyville, KS
Frontier - El Dorado, KS
NCRA - McPhereson, KS
Chalmette Refining - Chalmette, LA
Citgo - Corp Lake Charles, LA
ConocoPhillips - Belle Chasse, LA
ConocoPhillips - Westlake, LA
ExxonMobil - Baton Rouge, LA
Marathon - Garyville, LA
Motiva - Norco, LA
Valero - Norco, LA
Flint Hills - St Paul, MN
Chevron - Pascagoula, MS
Centex - Laurel, MT
ConocoPhillips - Billings, MT
ExxonMobil - Billings, MT
PBF - Paulsboro, NJ
BP-Husky - Toledo, OH
Premcor - Lima, OH
ConocoPhillips - Ponca City, OK
Holy - Tulsa, OK
Citgo - Corpus Christi
ConocoPhillips - Sweeny, TX
Deer Park Refining - Deer Park, TX
Delek - Tyler, TX
ExxonMobil - Baytown, TX
ExxonMobil - Beaumont, TX
Flint Hills Corpus Christi, TX
Houston Refining - Houston, TX
Motiva - Port Arthur, TX
Premcor - Port Arthur, TX
Total - Port Arthur, TX
Valero - Corpus Christi, TX
Valero - Texas City, TX
WRB Refining - Borger, TX
Chevron - Salt Lake City, UT
BP - Ferndale, WA
Shell - Anacortes, WA
Frontier - Cheyene, WY
Sinclair - Sinclair, WY

[Wesley Mouch]

A list of refineries in the U.S. producing petroleum coke:...

Hey Mike. You forgot Detroit MI

Great to see us added to that list of cities.