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 many 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 new analysis by the Environmental Integrity Challenge revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a known carcinogen that is extremely poisonous and volatile when exposed to air. A lot of the surplus emissions come by leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means which are laborious to detect.

The Environmental Protection Company estimates 6.1 million people in the US reside inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income people and folks of coloration represented at rates almost twice that of the general population.

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

Almost half of these refineries released benzene levels above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Mission defines as a long-term potential health risk.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene below the action level, 12 months after 12 months, we really must see enforcement from the EPA,” stated Eric Schaeffer, the manager director of the Environmental Integrity Project, in a press conference. “You have to begin paying penalties when your fence-line levels persist,” he added.

Lifetime publicity to benzene at ranges as low as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter could trigger a danger of up to one additional most cancers case for each one million exposed, in response to the EPA. The upper the extent of benzene, the higher the well being threat.

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

“This analysis supplies 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.

“Folks residing near these facilities have better [exposure] to lifetime most cancers danger than any other part of the state, yet the regulatory companies liable for protecting us continue to approve permits for these amenities,” Gutierrez stated.

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

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