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

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

Among the 12 refineries that emitted above the utmost level for benzene, 5 had 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 Project revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a recognized carcinogen that's highly toxic and unstable when exposed to air. A lot of the surplus emissions come by leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and other means that are exhausting to detect.

The Environmental Protection Company estimates 6.1 million people in the US reside inside three miles of a refinery, with low-income folks and folks of shade represented at charges nearly twice that of the final inhabitants.

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

Practically half of these refineries launched benzene levels above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Venture defines as a long-term potential well being menace.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene under the action level, year after yr, we actually need to see enforcement from the EPA,” mentioned Eric Schaeffer, the manager director of the Environmental Integrity Project, in a press conference. “You might want to begin paying penalties when your fence-line ranges persist,” he added.

Lifetime exposure to benzene at ranges as little as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter may cause a risk of up to one additional most cancers case for every one million uncovered, in line with the EPA. The upper the extent of benzene, the upper the well being danger.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas Metropolis had the best average net benzene ranges in 2021, in accordance with the evaluation of the self-reported information. Roughly 37,000 folks reside within a three-mile radius of the refinery. Among them, 62% are folks of colour and 47% are low-income.

“This evaluation supplies essential perception into why the Houston area is an industrial cancer hotspot,” mentioned Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, at the press conference.

“Folks residing close to these amenities have greater [exposure] to lifetime most cancers risk than any other a part of the state, yet the regulatory businesses answerable for protecting us proceed to approve permits for these amenities,” Gutierrez mentioned.

Environmental Integrity Mission notes that its analysis didn't measure concentrations of benzene within neighborhoods adjacent to refineries, and doesn't replicate the actual levels of benzene within the communities.

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