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

A dozen US oil refineries last 12 months exceeded the federal limit on average benzene emissions.

Among the many 12 refineries that emitted above the utmost degree for benzene, five 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 Project revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a known carcinogen that's highly poisonous and unstable when exposed to air. Much of the surplus emissions come by means of leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means that are laborious to detect.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 6.1 million individuals within the US stay within three miles of a refinery, with low-income people and folks of color represented at charges almost twice that of the overall inhabitants.

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

Almost half of these refineries launched benzene levels above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Venture defines as a long-term potential well being risk.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene under the motion level, yr after 12 months, we actually must see enforcement from the EPA,” mentioned Eric Schaeffer, the executive director of the Environmental Integrity Challenge, in a press conference. “It's worthwhile to start paying penalties when your fence-line levels persist,” he added.

Lifetime publicity to benzene at levels as low as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter could cause a danger of as much as one extra cancer case for every one million exposed, based on the EPA. The higher the level of benzene, the higher the health threat.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City had the highest common net benzene ranges in 2021, in keeping with the evaluation of the self-reported knowledge. Roughly 37,000 folks stay inside a three-mile radius of the refinery. Amongst them, 62% are individuals of coloration and 47% are low-income.

“This evaluation supplies important perception into why the Houston space is an industrial cancer hotspot,” said Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, on the press conference.

“Individuals dwelling close to these facilities have better [exposure] to lifetime most cancers risk than another part of the state, yet the regulatory agencies chargeable for protecting us proceed to approve permits for these facilities,” Gutierrez said.

Environmental Integrity Venture notes that its evaluation did not measure concentrations of benzene within neighborhoods adjacent to refineries, and doesn't mirror the actual ranges of benzene inside the communities.

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