A RESOLUTION BY THE DETROIT CITY COUNCIL

RESOLUTION STRONGLY URGING IMMEDIATE ACTION REGARDING PETROLEUM COKE PILES ON THE BANK OF THE DETROIT RIVER WHEREAS Petroleum coke (petcoke) is a known waste byproduct of refining tar sands bitumen into fuel oil. Since November 2012, Marathon Petroleum's Southwest Detroit refinery has been processing tar sand from Alberta, Canada, generating this petcoke byproduct, and storing it on land immediately adjacent to the Detroit River near the Ambassador Bridge; and WHEREAS This creates an extremely complex series of environmental, economic and social questions associated with the current storage of large amounts of petcoke on these particular sites, both because: 1) the petcoke is merely one aspect of a larger system of industrial extraction, transit and use of the extremely controversial tar sands fuel source; and 2) the production, sale and storage of the petcoke byproduct in this particular location in the community of southwest Detroit and on the U.S./Canadian border also raises a number of additional issues beyond zoning; and WHEREAS Since March 2013, these extremely large and rapidly growing piles of petcoke have been improperly stored (i.e. uncovered and in the open) on land owned by Maroun corporate interests. This land is leased to the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority and Detroit Bulk Storage, sub-leased to Nicholson Terminal & Dock and CSX Railroad. The petcoke is reportedly awaiting transport after its sale by Marathon Petroleum to Koch Carbon; and WHEREAS Each of the aforementioned entities, in particular Marathon Petroleum which produces the petcoke, have the responsibility and duty to ensure the processing, storage, and transport of this expected byproduct occurs in an expeditious manner that meets all legal and environmental guidelines to minimize the negative effects of its presence on the surrounding residential neighborhood in Southwest Detroit which is already severely overburdened by adverse environmental and public health conditions, that demands much more aggressive, vigilant and effective administrative and legal enforcement of land use standards and protections; and WHEREAS Petcoke, especially in such large and un contained volumes, presents numerous short and long-term potential public health, safety and environmental concerns and risks. These include but are not limited to: run-off into the river; ambient dust and particulate matter; its ultimate contribution to global warming and climate change; nuisance and other legal, equitable, environmental justice, economic and esthetic harms to the Detroit River, which is a uniquely important and valuable community asset and an ecosystem protected under federal, state and local laws; and WHEREAS To date, petcoke has been dumped on these properties without proper zoning clearances or necessary permits. It is also currently in violation of applicable height restrictions. Therefore, in April 2013 the City's Building Safety

Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) issued Correction Orders for both parcels due to these ongoing violations. Applications have been filed for variances or other zoning approvals (such as a Conditional Use Permit, and hearings either scheduled (for the Nicholson Terminal & Dock property) or anticipated in the near future (for the CSX Railroad property)); and WHEREAS Although BSEED ordinarily follows a prudent, discretionary policy in such cases of unpermitted land use by refraining from taking immediate enforcement action such as shutting down the facility and imposing fines, temporarily allowing the unpermitted use only when the applicant cooperates, or as in this case, by promptly filing an application when the violation is brought to their attention, and otherwise cooperates with the investigation, this does not appear to be a typical, garden variety land use case where such discretionary non-enforcement may be defensible and appropriate; and WHEREAS Rather, in this case, the giant petcoke piles present issues in need of immediate and decisive enforcement action by local, state and federal regulatory agencies to address the existing piles and ensure that all entities involved in the ongoing production, storage and transport of this byproduct have appropriate protocols in place as well as the necessary permits and approvals to prevent any future issues; and WHEREAS Marathon Petroleum apparently intends to continue, and even significantly increase, its tar sands processing activities in the future, producing' even more noxious petcoke byproduct that threatens even greater harms, so that this issue must be confronted and dealt with forcefully now to avoid setting an extremely undesirable, destructive precedent for the future; and NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOL VED That the Detroit City Council strongly urges immediate action be taken by local, state and federal governments to address the improperly stored petroleum coke piles that currently exist on the bank of the Detroit River and to prevent future occurrences through continued enforcement efforts; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED That the Detroit City Council strongly urges the City of Detroit, through its Mayor, Emergency Management Team and the Building Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED), to immediately take all available legal measures to stop any and all pm1ies, including but not limited the Maroun family corporations, Marathon Petroleum, Koch Carbon, the Port Authority, Detroit Cold Storage, Nicholson Dock & Terminal and CSX Railroad, to immediately cease and desist from dumping, storing, piling or otherwise placing petcoke or any other tar waste or noxious substances on the properties in question or anywhere else without compete, timely and adequate legal authority to do so and without adequate safeguards of local health and environmental quality, such as covering the materials in question and fully disclosing to the community all the relevant information about how it is being stored, isolated, and otherwise treated for the protection of human and other ecological health concerns, such measures to include but not be limited to immediately locking the facilities in question to

physically prevent access and/or seeking immediate judicial enforcement of all rights against this unlawful polluting activity; and BE IT FURTHER
RESOL VED That the Detroit City Council will work expeditiously with State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, U.S. Congressional Representatives Gary Peters and John Conyers, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, BSEED, Southwest Detroit residents, environmentalists and all other interested parties to thoroughly investigate the manifold issues and problems represented by petcoke and to devise adequate policy solutions that move beyond 'passing the buck' between regulatory agencies and levels or departments of government; and BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED That copies of this resolution shall be delivered to Mayor Bing, Emergency Manager Orr, the City's Building Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, U.S. Congressional Representatives Gary Peters and John Conyers, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Southwest Detroit residents, environmentalists and all other interested parties.