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

A dozen US oil refineries last year exceeded the federal limit on common benzene emissions.

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

Benzene is a identified carcinogen that is highly toxic and unstable when exposed to air. A lot of the surplus emissions come by leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and other means which can be laborious to detect.

The Environmental Protection Company estimates 6.1 million people in the US dwell within three miles of a refinery, with low-income folks and folks of color represented at charges almost twice that of the overall population.

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

Nearly half of these refineries released benzene levels above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Undertaking defines as a long-term potential health risk.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene under the action stage, 12 months after year, we actually must see enforcement from the EPA,” mentioned Eric Schaeffer, the manager director of the Environmental Integrity Challenge, in a press convention. “You have to start paying penalties when your fence-line ranges persist,” he added.

Lifetime exposure to benzene at levels as little as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter might cause a danger of up to one additional most cancers case for every a million uncovered, according to the EPA. The upper the extent of benzene, the upper the well being danger.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City had the highest average web benzene ranges in 2021, according to the analysis of the self-reported knowledge. Roughly 37,000 individuals stay inside a three-mile radius of the refinery. Amongst them, 62% are folks of shade and 47% are low-income.

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

“Individuals residing near these services have greater [exposure] to lifetime most cancers risk than another a part of the state, but the regulatory businesses responsible for protecting us proceed to approve permits for these services,” Gutierrez mentioned.

Environmental Integrity Challenge notes that its evaluation did not measure concentrations of benzene inside neighborhoods adjacent to refineries, and does not replicate the precise levels of benzene throughout the communities.

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