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

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

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

Benzene is a known carcinogen that's extremely poisonous and volatile when exposed to air. Much of the excess emissions come by means of leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means which might be exhausting to detect.

The Environmental Safety Agency estimates 6.1 million folks within the US stay inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income people and folks of coloration represented at rates nearly twice that of the general inhabitants.

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

Nearly half of those refineries released benzene ranges above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Mission defines as a long-term potential well being threat.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene beneath the motion degree, yr after yr, we really must see enforcement from the EPA,” said Eric Schaeffer, the chief director of the Environmental Integrity Challenge, in a press conference. “You have to begin paying penalties when your fence-line ranges persist,” he added.

Lifetime exposure to benzene at levels as little as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter could trigger a danger of up to one further most cancers case for each one million uncovered, in accordance with the EPA. The upper the level of benzene, the higher the well being danger.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas Metropolis had the highest common web benzene levels in 2021, in accordance with the evaluation of the self-reported information. Roughly 37,000 individuals reside within a three-mile radius of the refinery. Amongst them, 62% are individuals of colour and 47% are low-income.

“This evaluation offers necessary insight into why the Houston area is an industrial cancer hotspot,” stated Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, on the press conference.

“People living close to these services have better [exposure] to lifetime cancer threat than another a part of the state, yet the regulatory companies chargeable for defending us continue to approve permits for these facilities,” Gutierrez said.

Environmental Integrity Project notes that its analysis did not measure concentrations of benzene inside neighborhoods adjoining to refineries, and does not reflect the actual ranges of benzene inside the communities.

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