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

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

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

Benzene is a identified carcinogen that is highly poisonous and volatile when uncovered to air. Much of the surplus emissions come by means of leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means which are hard to detect.

The Environmental Safety Agency estimates 6.1 million folks within the US dwell inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income individuals and other people of colour represented at charges practically twice that of the general inhabitants.

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

Practically half of those refineries released benzene ranges above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Challenge defines as a long-term potential health menace.

The EPA requires amenities to take action if they exceed an average 9 micrograms per cubic meter, or above “motion degree” emission of benzene.

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene beneath the action stage, yr after 12 months, we actually must see enforcement from the EPA,” stated Eric Schaeffer, the executive director of the Environmental Integrity Challenge, in a press conference. “You need to start 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 trigger a danger of as much as one further most cancers case for every one million uncovered, in accordance with the EPA. The upper the extent of benzene, the higher the well being danger.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas Metropolis had the best common web benzene levels in 2021, according to the analysis of the self-reported data. Roughly 37,000 folks stay within a three-mile radius of the refinery. Among them, 62% are folks of colour and 47% are low-income.

“This evaluation offers important insight into why the Houston area is an industrial most cancers hotspot,” mentioned Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, at the press convention.

“Individuals living close to these services have larger [exposure] to lifetime most cancers danger than any other part of the state, yet the regulatory companies accountable for protecting us continue to approve permits for these facilities,” Gutierrez said.

Environmental Integrity Mission notes that its evaluation didn't measure concentrations of benzene within neighborhoods adjoining to refineries, and does not replicate the actual ranges of benzene throughout the communities.

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