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

A dozen US oil refineries final yr exceeded the federal restrict on common benzene emissions.

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

Benzene is a recognized carcinogen that is highly poisonous and volatile when exposed to air. Much of the excess emissions come by means of leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means that are arduous to detect.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 6.1 million folks within the US live inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income individuals and other people of colour represented at rates nearly twice that of the general population.

Out of 129 operable oil refineries in 2021, 118 reported benzene focus registered at or near the location, otherwise generally known as the fence-line.

Practically half of those refineries released benzene levels above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Project defines as a long-term potential well being risk.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene beneath the motion level, yr after yr, we really have to see enforcement from the EPA,” mentioned Eric Schaeffer, the manager director of the Environmental Integrity Mission, in a press conference. “It's essential to begin paying penalties when your fence-line ranges persist,” he added.

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

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City had the best common web benzene levels in 2021, according to the evaluation of the self-reported data. Roughly 37,000 people live inside a three-mile radius of the refinery. Among them, 62% are people of shade and 47% are low-income.

“This evaluation provides important perception into why the Houston area is an industrial most cancers hotspot,” mentioned Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, on the press conference.

“People residing near these amenities have larger [exposure] to lifetime most cancers risk than another part of the state, but the regulatory companies accountable for protecting us proceed to approve permits for these amenities,” Gutierrez said.

Environmental Integrity Challenge notes that its evaluation didn't measure concentrations of benzene inside neighborhoods adjacent to refineries, and does not replicate the actual levels of benzene inside the communities.

Marathon Petroleum and the EPA didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.