Burning of used oil by CUC violates federal regulation

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has been burning its used oil without an energy recovery recycling system, a practice which is in violation of the federal environmental standards.

According to Larry Guerrero, CUC’s environmental planner, the utilities firm incinerates 20 drums a day of used oil. CUC gets 30,000 to 34,000 barrels for every 20 days of diesel fuel for its power plant every 20 days from Mobil Oil. In a year, CUC burns approximately 6,500 gallons.

The Environmental Protection Agency has imposed a set of regulations governing the management of used oils.
Guerrero was among the panelists in the used oil recycling discussion in the ongoing Pacific Islands Conference.

Ensuring proper disposal of used oil is a common problem among Pacific islanders. Although efforts are being done by the government in partnership with non-government organizations and the business sector to address the problem, the lack of re-refining technology is still the biggest stumbling block in solving the environmental issue.
But with the scheduled construction of an 80-megawatt power plant on Saipan, the environmental problem will soon be solved since it will be environmental-friendly. At least five out of nine companies deemed qualified to bid on Saipan power project have submitted their “best and final offers” for the second phase of independent evaluation being conducted by a US engineering firm.

The Division of Environmental Quality has not taken any enforcement action against companies that have failed to dispose of their huge volume of used oil. Instead, it has been carrying out educational campaigns to make sure that individual, commercial and industrial sources do not simply throw their used oil anywhere and contaminate the environment.

At the same time, DEQ is relying on the plan of Clean Earth Inc., a company that will import the re-refinery technology from Manila and establish a plant here to recycle the huge volume of used oil generated by various businesses.

This year, businesses already generated some 131,217 gallons of used oil aside from the 23,350 gallons which came from 80 small auto shops around the island.

EPA defines used oil as any oil that has been refined from crude oil or any synthetic oil that has been used and as a result of such use is contaminated by physical or chemical impurities.

An estimated 380 million gallons of used oil are recycled each year. Recycled used oil can sometimes be used again for the same job or can be used differently. For example, used motor oil can be re-refined and sold at the store as motor oil or processed for furnace fuel oil. Aluminum rolling oils can be filtered on site and used over again.