Tyler  Jones  321000444    

Exterran  Report  

   

Introduction     Last  Thursday,  we  visited  the  Exterran  site,  which  in  general  produces  natural  gas  equipment.  We  were  lead  through  the  site  by  the  HSE  Coordinator  David  Zimmerman  who  pointed  out  their  different  processes  and  regulations  used  in  those  processes.    Before  and  after  the  tour,  Steven  Mounce  explained  the  regulations  used  and  how  they  were  implemented.  Mr.  Mounce  also  held  a  Question  and  Answer  session  for  the  tour,  which  explained  many  things  outside  of  the  facility  as  well.  We  then  had  a  small  discussion  of  how  Exterran  

relates  to  other  larger  or  municipal  organizations.  Below  I  will  expand  on  these  discussion  points  and  how  they  relate  to  possible  Environmental  job  positions.  Throughout  the  paper,  I  will  highlight  process  and  what  regulations  they  pertain  to  by  a  superscript  system.      

David  Zimmerman  Leading  tour.  

 Site  Features  

  The  Exterran  site,  located  at  4444  Brittmoore  Rd  Houston,  Tx  77041,  is  a  fully  functioning  facility  that  produces,  tests  and  ships  gas  related  equipment.  Within  the  facility  many  operations  are  completed  including:  building,  welding,  cleaning,  painting,  storage,  blasting,  machining,  testing,  assembly,  crating  and  shipping.  These  all  pose  their  own  potentials  for  pollution  or  safety  concerns.  To  carry  out  all  of  these  processes,  many  controlled  chemicals  and  materials  are  used  which  include  raw  steel8  (over  10,000  lbs.  on  site  at  any  given  time),  

compressed  gasses  used  to  operate  and  test  equipment,  

different  types  of  oil8(mainly  hydraulic  and  motor  oil),  antifreeze9  (used  to  preserve  engines)  and  many  others.  

There  are  many  different  ways  that  the  site  controls  its  pollution.  A  few  of  the  bigger  ways  they  control  pollution  are:  Neshap  Bag  Units4  (large  air  filters  located  on  the  outside  of  buildings  that  remove  any  air  contaminants  that  may  occur  during  production),  ventilated  welding  areas6(point  source  extraction),  Blasting  rooms  where  employees  have  access  to  air  lines,3  painting  rooms  that  measure  and  track  the  amount  of  paint  used6.  These  features  along  with  other  safety  and  disaster  plans  help  keep  the  Exterran  site  a  safe  and  up  to  date  place  to  produce  gas  equipment.    

Regulations  Used     The  regulations  required  for  such  broad  companies  such  as  Exterran  are  kept  up  to  date  by  Mounce  and  Associates.  Steven  Mounce  broke  down  the  main  guiding  documents  that  they  use  to  keep  Exterran  up  to  date  and  sectioned  them  into    four  different  groups:  Air,  Water,  EPCRA,  and  RCRA.    

Neshap  6X  Bag  Unit  

Painting  room.  

Under  the  Clean  Air  Act  there  area  couple  major  things  that  need  to  be  kept  up  with  and  they  are  PBRs2,3,  the  TAC  and  TCEQ  and  the  Neshap  XXXXXX4.  In  their  PBR  they  use  12.4  tons  of  DOC’s  per  year.  They  follow  multiple  things  under  TAC  and  TCEQ.  Under  Neshap  XXXXXX4  they  get  their  regulations  for  most  of  their  actual  machining  and  other  physical  processes  including  welding4,  blasting3,  painting2,6  and  machining4.  

For  water,  they  have  to  do  many  standard  practices  including  adhering  to  Industrial  waste  water  and  storm  water1  management  plans.  They  must  also  provide  hydro  testing  to  test  for  any  major  contaminants  of  run  off  water.  This  along  with  training  of  all  employees  in  spill  prevention  and  immediate  

containment  is  crucial  to  staying  to  regulation  and  having  a  zero  spill  work  environment.  

EPCRA  deals  more  with  reporting  of  chemicals  and  materials  and  having  plans  in  place  for  the  possible  release  of  those  chemicals  or  materials.  To  stay  under  regulations,  they  must  submit  both  a  Form  R9,  mainly  for  the  use  of  antifreeze,  and  a  Tier  Two  Report8,  which  are  annual  reports  about  the  chemicals  used  in  the  facility.  

RCRA  has  two  different  sides,  being  the  Federal  and  State  side.  Mounce  and  Associates  have  a  policy  to  follow  whichever  one  is  stricter.  RCRA  defines  classes  for  different  substances  and  their  requirements  for  disposal.  The  class  are  as  follows  Hazardous  (anything  federally  or  state  defined  as  a  hazardous  material),  Class  1  (in  Texas  treated  like  hazardous  materials,  but  EPA  defines  it  as  non-­‐hazardous),  Class  2  (anything  not  in  Class  1  or  3),  and  Class  3  (“harmless”  materials  such  as  dirt,  debri  and  inert  material)5.     To  complete  all  of  these  regulations,  Exterran  requires  a  lot  of  extra  help  and  work,  showing  the  need  for  the  hiring  of  Mounce  and  Associates.  Mounce  and  Associates  only  work  in  areas  that  they  are  specialized  in,  creating  a  work  symbiosis  in  expertise.    Comparisons     Exterran  is  a  massive  company  that  employs  over  10,000  workers  in  more  than  30  countries.  Per  Exterran’s  website,  they  “cover  every  major  oil  and  gas  region  of  the  world  and  serve  a  full  spectrum  of  energy  clients,  from  the  super  majors  and  National  Oil  Companies  to  the  independent  E&P  and  distribution  companies.”  There  are  no  real  comparisons  of  anything  on  their  scale  in  the  public  sector  but  they  do  deal  with  the  same  regulations.  Exterran  also  ships  about  twenty  packages  a  month  from  six  shipping  bays  in  their  facility.  All  of  these  combined  result  in  about  $2.9  Billion  in  revenues,  showing  that  Exterran  really  is  a  gigantic  company  with  not  many  comparisons  to  match  it..  

Disposal  bins  for  different  types  of  waste.  

Transportation  of  antifreeze.  

  Being  such  a  big  and  diverse  company  shows  the  real  need  for  Exterran  to  have  a  group  like  Mounce  and  Associates  to  help  them  in  their  endeavors,  while  smaller  companies  or  entities  can  get  by  with  hiring  their  own  team.  Luckily,  the  system  that  Exterran  and  Mounce  have  set  up  works  great  for  them.            Sources    "Mounce & Associates, Inc." Mounce Associates Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. "Home Page | Exterran." Home Page | Exterran. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. Storm Water: TXR050001

Permit By Rule 106.433 for coatings operations2

Permit by Rule 106.452 - Dry Abrasive Blasting3

NESHAP XXXXXX4

40 CFR 260, 261, 262, 2655

Texas: Management of paint waste as universal waste6

Used Oil Rules 40 CFR 2797

EPCRA Tier Two8

EPCRA Toxic Chemical Report - Form R Report9