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

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

Among the 12 refineries that emitted above the utmost degree for benzene, five have been in Texas, 4 in Louisiana, and one every in Pennsylvania, Indiana and the US Virgin Islands, a brand new evaluation by the Environmental Integrity Mission revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a identified carcinogen that is highly toxic and volatile when exposed to air. A lot of the excess emissions come by way of leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means which are laborious to detect.

The Environmental Protection Company estimates 6.1 million folks within the US reside inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income people and other people of color represented at rates nearly twice that of the final population.

Out of 129 operable oil refineries in 2021, 118 reported benzene concentration registered at or near the site, otherwise known as 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 health risk.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene under the action stage, yr after yr, we really have to see enforcement from the EPA,” said Eric Schaeffer, the manager director of the Environmental Integrity Project, in a press convention. “It's good to start paying penalties when your fence-line levels persist,” he added.

Lifetime publicity to benzene at ranges as little as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter may cause a danger of up to one further cancer case for each one million exposed, in accordance with the EPA. The upper the level of benzene, the upper the well being risk.

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

“This analysis supplies vital perception into why the Houston space is an industrial most cancers hotspot,” mentioned Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, on the press convention.

“Individuals living close to these amenities have larger [exposure] to lifetime cancer threat than any other part of the state, but the regulatory businesses answerable for defending us proceed to approve permits for these amenities,” Gutierrez stated.

Environmental Integrity Challenge notes that its analysis did not measure concentrations of benzene within neighborhoods adjoining to refineries, and doesn't mirror the precise ranges of benzene throughout the communities.

Marathon Petroleum and the EPA did not instantly reply to a request for remark.