Bill Wehrum, who as political head of Trump @EPA air program, signed off on restart of a heavily polluting St. Croix oil refinery in an environmental justice community, letting the owners evade modern air pollution controls. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-04/documents/limetree_2018.pdf

Now, he's an oil attorney. 1/ https://twitter.com/SeanatGreenwire/status/1357345715312230409

A 2019 @HarvardEELP white paper by @JosephGoffman & @janetgmccabe, both now in the Biden-Harris @EPA, examined attacks on the Clean Air Act's 'new source review' safeguards by Wehrum & the Trump @EPA, in context of restart of Limetree oil refinery. 2/ https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2019/10/epas-attack-on-new-source-review-and-other-air-quality-protection-tools/

Trump's @EPA allowed restart AND expansion of the long shutdown Limetree refinery in a St. Croix EJ community without requiring modern air pollution controls, running afoul of 2 separate obligations in clean air rules. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/NSR-paper-EELP.pdf (pp. 15-16) 3/

Former fossil fuel lobbyist & former Trump @EPA Administrator, @EPAAWheeler, personally signed Limetree oil refinery air pollution permit on 12-1-20, to speed restart of the heavily polluting refinery before a Biden-Harris @EPA could review impacts & lawfulness of his action. 4/

A must-read @CorbinHiar article examines direct intervention by Wheeler & Wehrum to expedite restart of the Limetree oil refinery — linked to a major Republican donor-investor — without adopting modern air pollution controls required by Clean Air Act. 5/ https://twitter.com/CorbinHiar/status/1197611423242899458

Even the TRUMP @EPA's own environmental justice analysis found the community surrounding the Limetree oil refinery in St. Croix to be“burdened by several complex environmental challenges nearby." Wheeler approved a permit with massively inflated emissions caps, anyway. 6/

The Limetree oil refinery has been shutdown since, 2012, not refining crude oil, following >$1B in losses, a $700+M enforcement case for violating Clean Air Act & bankruptcy.

Yet, Trump @EPA allowed restart of refinery to skirt required Best Available Control Technology. 7/

Here are examples of the Limetree refinery's annual emissions when it was shutdown (operating as an oil terminal) compared to the inflated emissions caps approved by the Trump @EPA & @EPAAWheeler: 8/

The Clean Air Act treats oil refineries as a 'major emitting facility' that must adopt Best Available Control Technology as a new source if the facility emits 100+ tons per year of regulated air pollutants, like those above. 9/ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2013-title42/html/USCODE-2013-title42-chap85-subchapI-partC-subparti-sec7479.htm

The abusive Trump @EPA air pollution permit lets the Limetree refinery increase dangerous emissions by amounts corresponding to 50-60 NEW major emitting facilities on St. Croix, without requiring Best Available Control Technology. 10/

If 50 to 60 new major emitting facilities, drawn from any industry on the list below, sought to build in St. Croix, each with emissions ≥ 100 tons per year of dangerous air pollution, EACH would need to install Best Available Control Technology cutting pollution by 90+%. 11/

But, the Trump @EPA's 11th hour air pollution permit abuse allows the Limetree oil refinery to increase dangerous air pollutants in a St. Croix EJ community by many THOUSANDS of tons, without adopting Best Available Control Technology to reduce the increased amounts by 90+%. 12/