Stone Lions Environmental Corporation
501 Deep Valley Drive #210
Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274

Phone: (310) 377-6677
Fax: (310) 377-1172
e-mail address: info@stonelions.com



Specialties:

Who we are

Stone Lions Environmental Corporation was founded in April, 1993. We are an environmental consulting firm specializing in air pollution evaluations related to a variety of industrial facilities. In addition, we research potential health effects that result from community exposure to a wide variety of toxic chemicals. Much of our work is done in the context of complex civil litigation.

Where we are

Our primary offices are located in Rolling Hills Estates, California. We have affiliated operations in Houston, Texas.

What we do

We evaluate refining, petrochemical, and chemical operations, and the associated toxic exposure problems. We employ a variety of chemical engineering techniques to perform those evaluations. We develop emissions inventories, and analyze source and meteorological data in order to define current and past community exposures. We then integrate this data into a variety of computer models, which predict the atmospheric dispersion of toxic chemicals from the source of emissions. Our modeling protocols are consistent with EPA guidelines and standard air pollution engineering practices.

We also develop specialized computer software related to air dispersion modeling projects and the depiction of the results obtained from those projects. Our COMPAIR software was the first program in the field to provide a simple means to relate the results of multiple air dispersion model outputs. To aid in the visual display of modeling results, we are developing computer animation techniques that greatly enhance understanding of air pollution situations or events.

We have worked on a variety of complex projects including air emission modeling for a number of chemical and refining facilities, evaluation of proposed commercial incinerator facilities, and development of air emissions inventories for various industrial operations. We have worked on behalf of citizen's groups in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee, and California. Most of our project experience has involved human exposure to a wide variety of toxic and hazardous industrial chemicals.

Recent projects:

Brownsville, Texas: This project involved a cluster of anencephaly cases in Brownsville, Texas. It was hypothesized that these fatal birth defects came about as a result of exposure to toxic chemical emissions originating at a group of maquiladoras in Matamoros, Mexico. We developed air emissions inventories for forty-eight maquiladoras. We then reconstructed ambient air toxic chemical concentrations in Brownsville during the period 1989-1992. A complex air dispersion modeling technique was utilized to estimate those toxic chemical exposures.

Corpus Christi, Texas: There are a group of refining and petrochemical facilities operating in Corpus Christi, Texas that emit substantial quantities of benzene into the atmosphere. We undertook a process analysis to identify specific industrial sources of benzene. Given the results of our analysis, air dispersion modeling was used to calculate ambient air benzene concentrations. We reconstructed metropolitan ambient air benzene concentrations for the years 1975, 1989, 1990, and 1992.

West Covina, California: We evaluated the operation of a large industrial waste disposal facility. Toxic chemical emissions were quantified and related to neighborhood exposures. We developed and wrote a history of the site and defined a lengthy list of resulting environmental problems. Vinyl chloride, a recognized human carcinogen, was the focal point of the project.

Point Comfort, Texas: We conducted a study of the atmospheric emissions of ethylene dichloride (EDC) and vinyl chloride (VC) from sources located at Formosa Plastics Corporation in Point Comfort, Texas. To assess the impact of these emissions on the town of Point Comfort, air dispersion modeling was performed. The model calculated pollutant concentrations at various specified locations in and around the town of Point Comfort. These data were converted into an isopleth map showing concentrations of each chemical over the region.

Odessa, Texas: We conducted an air dispersion modeling study of atmospheric emissions of benzene, styrene, total hydrocarbons, and hydrogen sulfide from sources located within the Odessa Petrochemical Complex. The facilities within the Complex include a Shell Oil Company refinery, a petrochemical complex operated by Rexene Corporation, and a styrene-butadiene rubber manufacturing plant operated by Dynagen, Inc. The Odessa Complex may also emit air pollutants of a biological nature through the use of treated wastewater in cooling towers.

Contacts:

Jim Tarr, President
BS Chemical Engineering
Master of Chemical Engineering
Member, American Academy of Environmental Engineers
Registered Professional Engineer
e-mail address: jtarr@stonelions.com
Click here to view resume.



Mark Gruber, Technical Assistant
BA, Physical Geography
Graduate studies, Physical Geography
Extension education, Air Toxics Exposure Assessment and Presentation Mapping
e-mail address: mgruber@stonelions.com
Click here to view resume.

Click here to view a paper concerning community air pollution exposures, Threshold Limit Values (TLV's) and ethics.

Click here to view an isopleth map related to vinyl chloride contamination in Point Comfort, Texas.

Click here for descriptions of useful air dispersion modeling tools we have developed.

Click here for an inventory of toxic chemical emissions from forty-eight facilities in Matamoros, Mexico.