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

A dozen US oil refineries final yr exceeded the federal restrict on average benzene emissions.

Among the 12 refineries that emitted above the utmost stage for benzene, 5 had been in Texas, four in Louisiana, and one every in Pennsylvania, Indiana and the US Virgin Islands, a brand new analysis by the Environmental Integrity Challenge revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a identified carcinogen that is extremely toxic and risky when uncovered to air. A lot of the surplus emissions come through leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and other means which are hard to detect.

The Environmental Safety Agency estimates 6.1 million individuals in the US live inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income individuals and other people of color represented at charges nearly twice that of the final inhabitants.

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

Almost half of those refineries released benzene ranges above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Project defines as a long-term potential health threat.

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

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

Lifetime exposure to benzene at levels as little as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter could trigger a threat of up to one extra most cancers case for every one million uncovered, in response to the EPA. The upper the extent of benzene, the upper the health risk.

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

“This evaluation supplies essential perception into why the Houston area is an industrial most cancers hotspot,” stated Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, at the press convention.

“Individuals living close to these amenities have larger [exposure] to lifetime cancer danger than every other a part of the state, but the regulatory businesses accountable for defending us continue to approve permits for these services,” Gutierrez mentioned.

Environmental Integrity Project notes that its analysis didn't measure concentrations of benzene within neighborhoods adjoining to refineries, and does not mirror the precise levels of benzene within the communities.

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