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

A dozen US oil refineries last year exceeded the federal restrict on average benzene emissions.

Among the many 12 refineries that emitted above the utmost degree for benzene, 5 had been in Texas, 4 in Louisiana, and one each in Pennsylvania, Indiana and the US Virgin Islands, a brand new evaluation by the Environmental Integrity Mission revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a known carcinogen that's extremely poisonous and risky when exposed to air. A lot of the surplus emissions come by way of leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and other means which can be exhausting to detect.

The Environmental Protection Company estimates 6.1 million folks in the US stay within three miles of a refinery, with low-income folks and other people of shade represented at charges nearly twice that of the overall population.

Out of 129 operable oil refineries in 2021, 118 reported benzene focus registered at or close to the location, in any other case generally 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 well being risk.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene beneath the action degree, yr after year, we actually must see enforcement from the EPA,” stated Eric Schaeffer, the chief director of the Environmental Integrity Project, in a press convention. “It is advisable to begin paying penalties when your fence-line levels persist,” he added.

Lifetime exposure to benzene at ranges as low as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter may cause a risk of as much as one additional cancer case for each one million exposed, according to the EPA. The upper the extent of benzene, the higher the well being danger.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City had the very best common web benzene levels in 2021, in keeping with the evaluation of the self-reported information. Roughly 37,000 people stay within a three-mile radius of the refinery. Among them, 62% are individuals of colour and 47% are low-income.

“This evaluation offers essential perception into why the Houston space is an industrial most cancers hotspot,” stated Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, at the press conference.

“Individuals dwelling close to these services have higher [exposure] to lifetime most cancers threat than some other part of the state, yet the regulatory companies answerable for protecting us continue to approve permits for these services,” Gutierrez said.

Environmental Integrity Mission notes that its evaluation didn't measure concentrations of benzene inside neighborhoods adjacent to refineries, and doesn't mirror the precise levels of benzene throughout the communities.

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