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

A dozen US oil refineries final yr exceeded the federal limit on average benzene emissions.

Among the 12 refineries that emitted above the maximum level for benzene, 5 were in Texas, 4 in Louisiana, and one every 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 is extremely poisonous and unstable when exposed to air. Much of the excess emissions come by leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and other means which can be hard to detect.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 6.1 million folks in the US live inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income people and people of coloration represented at rates practically twice that of the overall population.

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

Almost half of those refineries launched benzene ranges above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Venture defines as a long-term potential health threat.

The EPA requires facilities to take action in the event that they exceed a median 9 micrograms per cubic meter, or above “motion stage” emission of benzene.

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene under the action stage, yr after yr, we actually have to see enforcement from the EPA,” stated Eric Schaeffer, the manager director of the Environmental Integrity Mission, in a press convention. “It's essential start paying penalties when your fence-line ranges persist,” he added.

Lifetime publicity to benzene at levels as little as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter might trigger a danger of as much as one additional most cancers case for every a million uncovered, in response to the EPA. The upper the level of benzene, the higher the well being danger.

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

“This analysis gives necessary insight into why the Houston space is an industrial most cancers hotspot,” stated Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, at the press convention.

“Individuals residing close to these amenities have larger [exposure] to lifetime cancer threat than another a part of the state, but the regulatory agencies responsible for defending us continue to approve permits for these services,” Gutierrez said.

Environmental Integrity Undertaking notes that its analysis did not measure concentrations of benzene within neighborhoods adjacent to refineries, and does not mirror the precise ranges of benzene within the communities.

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