US oil refineries spewing cancer-causing benzene into communities, report finds | Pollution

A dozen US oil refineries final 12 months exceeded the federal limit on common benzene emissions.

Among the 12 refineries that emitted above the maximum stage for benzene, 5 have been in Texas, 4 in Louisiana, and one every in Pennsylvania, Indiana and the US Virgin Islands, a brand new analysis by the Environmental Integrity Challenge revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a identified carcinogen that is highly poisonous and volatile when uncovered to air. A lot of the excess emissions come via leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and other means that are exhausting to detect.

The Environmental Safety Company estimates 6.1 million individuals within the US dwell within three miles of a refinery, with low-income folks and people of colour represented at rates nearly twice that of the overall inhabitants.

Out of 129 operable oil refineries in 2021, 118 reported benzene focus registered at or close to the positioning, otherwise often known as the fence-line.

Almost half of these refineries released benzene levels above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Challenge defines as a long-term potential health threat.

The EPA requires facilities to take motion if they exceed a mean 9 micrograms per cubic meter, or above “motion stage” emission of benzene.

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene beneath the motion stage, yr after year, we actually must see enforcement from the EPA,” stated Eric Schaeffer, the executive director of the Environmental Integrity Venture, in a press convention. “You want to start paying penalties when your fence-line ranges persist,” he added.

Lifetime exposure to benzene at levels as low as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter might trigger a threat of as much as one additional cancer case for every a million uncovered, in keeping with the EPA. The higher the level of benzene, the upper the well being threat.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas Metropolis had the very best common internet benzene levels in 2021, in keeping with the analysis of the self-reported data. Roughly 37,000 folks dwell within a three-mile radius of the refinery. Amongst them, 62% are people of coloration and 47% are low-income.

“This analysis provides vital perception into why the Houston space is an industrial most cancers hotspot,” said Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, at the press convention.

“People residing close to these facilities have larger [exposure] to lifetime most cancers threat than some other a part of the state, but the regulatory businesses answerable for protecting us proceed to approve permits for these amenities,” Gutierrez mentioned.

Environmental Integrity Challenge notes that its evaluation did not measure concentrations of benzene inside neighborhoods adjoining to refineries, and does not replicate the precise levels of benzene throughout the communities.

Marathon Petroleum and the EPA did not immediately reply to a request for remark.