Mountains of a black, powdery refinery byproduct called petroleum coke are piling up from Chicago to Corpus Christi, Texas, prompting local officials to fight what residents say is a dusty scourge that coats houses, cars and even pets. Chicago’s City Council this week debated a proposed ordinance that would ban pet-coke storage within city limits, after officials said clouds of it blew from a storage site on the city’s South Side into a nearby neighborhood. The dusting from Koch Industries Inc.’s KCBX Terminals Co., which operates the site adjacent to the Calumet River, prompted Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel last week to order the city’s public-health department to draft new regulations governing pet coke. “We will be working actively with our state and federal partners to force these petroleum-coke facilities to either clean up or shut down,” Mr. Emanuel said. Tighter storage rules being drafted include height restrictions for pet-coke […]