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

A dozen US oil refineries last 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 every in Pennsylvania, Indiana and the US Virgin Islands, a new analysis by the Environmental Integrity Challenge revealed on Thursday.

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

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

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

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

The EPA requires facilities to take motion if they exceed a mean 9 micrograms per cubic meter, or above “motion level” emission of benzene.

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene under the action degree, yr after year, we actually must see enforcement from the EPA,” said Eric Schaeffer, the chief director of the Environmental Integrity Project, in a press convention. “You have to start paying penalties when your fence-line ranges persist,” he added.

Lifetime publicity to benzene at ranges as low as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter may trigger a threat of up to one additional most cancers case for each a million uncovered, according to the EPA. The upper the level of benzene, the higher the health threat.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City had the highest common internet benzene ranges in 2021, based on the analysis of the self-reported information. Roughly 37,000 individuals reside inside a three-mile radius of the refinery. Amongst them, 62% are folks of shade and 47% are low-income.

“This evaluation supplies essential insight into why the Houston space is an industrial cancer hotspot,” stated Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, on the press convention.

“Individuals dwelling near these services have larger [exposure] to lifetime most cancers threat than any other part of the state, yet the regulatory businesses liable for protecting us proceed to approve permits for these facilities,” Gutierrez said.

Environmental Integrity Project notes that its analysis did not measure concentrations of benzene within neighborhoods adjoining to refineries, and doesn't reflect the actual levels of benzene inside the communities.

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