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

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

Among the 12 refineries that emitted above the maximum 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 Venture revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a known carcinogen that is highly poisonous and volatile when uncovered to air. A lot of the surplus emissions come through leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means that are arduous to detect.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 6.1 million people within the US live inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income individuals and other people of colour represented at charges practically twice that of the final population.

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

Nearly half of those refineries launched benzene ranges above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Mission defines as a long-term potential well being risk.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene beneath the motion stage, yr after yr, we actually must see enforcement from the EPA,” mentioned Eric Schaeffer, the chief director of the Environmental Integrity Venture, in a press conference. “That you must begin 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 might trigger a danger of up to one further most cancers case for each a million uncovered, according to the EPA. The higher the extent of benzene, the higher the well being risk.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas Metropolis had the very best common net benzene levels in 2021, in keeping with the evaluation of the self-reported knowledge. Roughly 37,000 people stay inside a three-mile radius of the refinery. Amongst them, 62% are people of coloration and 47% are low-income.

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

“People dwelling close to these facilities have greater [exposure] to lifetime most cancers danger than another a part of the state, yet the regulatory agencies responsible for defending us proceed to approve permits for these services,” Gutierrez mentioned.

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

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