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 average benzene emissions.

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

Benzene is a recognized carcinogen that's extremely poisonous and volatile when exposed to air. Much of the surplus emissions come by leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and other means which are hard to detect.

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

Out of 129 operable oil refineries in 2021, 118 reported benzene concentration registered at or close to the site, in any other case often called the fence-line.

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

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene beneath the action level, year after year, we actually need to see enforcement from the EPA,” stated Eric Schaeffer, the manager director of the Environmental Integrity Mission, in a press conference. “You have to start paying penalties when your fence-line levels persist,” he added.

Lifetime exposure to benzene at levels as low as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter could cause a risk of as much as one extra cancer case for each a million exposed, in response to the EPA. The higher the extent of benzene, the upper the health risk.

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

“This analysis gives essential insight into why the Houston area is an industrial cancer hotspot,” stated Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, at the press conference.

“People dwelling near these facilities have better [exposure] to lifetime most cancers danger than another part of the state, but the regulatory companies chargeable for defending us proceed to approve permits for these services,” Gutierrez stated.

Environmental Integrity Venture notes that its analysis didn't measure concentrations of benzene inside neighborhoods adjacent to refineries, and doesn't reflect the precise ranges of benzene within the communities.

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