Flare doing its job

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Tall flames and black smoke shot out of one of the flare pipes at the Par Pacific Wyoming Refining Co. facility on July 4 after a brief power outage due to a storm in the area. While the scene might have looked terrifying to those passing by,  the flare was simply doing its job, said Mike Farnsworth, president of the refinery. 
“There is no immediate danger; everything is doing what it is designed to do,” Farnsworth said. 
“The safety system is doing its job. We are glad when it happens, but we don’t want it to,” added Mike Baldwin, the health, safety, security and environmental manager. 
The job of the flare, both men said, is to burn off any excess hydrogen sulfide, creating sulfur dioxide in the process. When the facility loses power, Farnsworth said, it loses cooling water and products must be sent to a relief, which is the flare pipes.
“It is an emergency device, a safety device. It keeps everything in the pipes, and it burns and combusts so it is not going straight into the atmosphere,” he said. “Everything is contained.” 
Baldwin noted that the height of the stack is meant to ensure less direct impact. 
According to incident report documents on the event, no precautions were required because the sulfur dioxide was released from the elevated flare stack. It was expected to remain high above ground level and disperse before causing health impacts. 
Following the power outage, the elevated sulfur dioxide was released through the flare for a 23-hour period. The extended period of the emission release was due to the subsequent refinery start-up after the unexpected power loss. 
“Operations took actions to minimize flaring by following start-up procedures to restart the refinery units and return to normal operating conditions safely and as quickly as possible,” the incident report states. 
According to the report, 925 pounds of sulfur dioxide was released into the environment (air only). Tracking emissions during a power outage is standard practice at the facility.  
Farnsworth and Baldwin both said that when the flare goes off and power is lost, it gets all hands on deck. People move into action to correct the situation. 
“We don’t want it to go off, but it is preventing something more catastrophic with more severe consequences,” Baldwin said. “We don’t ignore that. It means action is needed right now.”