Power failure sends smoke aloft at Sunoco refinery

Officials at a suburban Philly refinery say a power failure is responsible for flames and plumes of black smoke seen shooting from its stacks, but there’s no danger to the public.

Sunoco spokesman Thomas Golembeski says the outage at the Marcus Hook plant occurred at 4:19 p.m. yesterday. He told the Delaware County Daily Times that to safely shut down the processing units, uncombusted hydrocarbons are sent to the stacks in order to relieve the pressure.

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency told the paper that materials in various stages of refining were fouled and had to be burned off.

Golembeski says no one at the plant was injured and the smoke is harmless to nearby residents.

Sunoco and PECO officials are trying to determine the cause of the outage.