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 maximum degree for benzene, 5 were in Texas, four in Louisiana, and one each in Pennsylvania, Indiana and the US Virgin Islands, a brand new analysis by the Environmental Integrity Mission revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a known carcinogen that's extremely poisonous and unstable when uncovered to air. Much of the excess emissions come through leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means which are arduous to detect.

The Environmental Protection Company estimates 6.1 million people in the US dwell inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income individuals and folks of shade represented at rates practically twice that of the final population.

Out of 129 operable oil refineries in 2021, 118 reported benzene focus registered at or near the positioning, otherwise referred to as the fence-line.

Nearly 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 if they exceed a mean 9 micrograms per cubic meter, or above “action degree” emission of benzene.

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene below the motion stage, year after year, we really have to see enforcement from the EPA,” said Eric Schaeffer, the executive director of the Environmental Integrity Venture, in a press conference. “It is advisable 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 may trigger a threat of up to one further most cancers case for every a million uncovered, in line with 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 common web benzene ranges in 2021, according to the evaluation of the self-reported data. Roughly 37,000 individuals live within a three-mile radius of the refinery. Amongst them, 62% are folks of colour and 47% are low-income.

“This evaluation offers essential insight into why the Houston space is an industrial most cancers hotspot,” mentioned Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, on the press convention.

“People residing close to these services have greater [exposure] to lifetime most cancers risk than any other part of the state, but the regulatory businesses answerable for protecting us proceed to approve permits for these services,” Gutierrez said.

Environmental Integrity Undertaking notes that its analysis didn't measure concentrations of benzene inside neighborhoods adjoining to refineries, and doesn't mirror the precise ranges of benzene throughout the communities.

Marathon Petroleum and the EPA didn't immediately respond to a request for remark.