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 degree for benzene, five were in Texas, 4 in Louisiana, and one every 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 is highly poisonous and volatile when uncovered to air. Much of the surplus emissions come through leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means that are hard to detect.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 6.1 million people in the US stay within three miles of a refinery, with low-income folks and people of colour represented at rates practically twice that of the final inhabitants.

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

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

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene below the action level, 12 months after year, we really must see enforcement from the EPA,” said Eric Schaeffer, the executive director of the Environmental Integrity Mission, in a press convention. “It's worthwhile to begin paying penalties when your fence-line levels persist,” he added.

Lifetime publicity to benzene at ranges as little as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter may trigger a risk of as much as one additional most cancers case for every one million uncovered, in accordance with the EPA. The upper the level of benzene, the higher the well being danger.

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

“This evaluation provides essential insight into why the Houston area is an industrial cancer hotspot,” mentioned Leticia Gutierrez of advocacy group Air Alliance Houston, on the press convention.

“Folks living close to these services have greater [exposure] to lifetime cancer threat than every other a part of the state, but the regulatory agencies answerable for defending us proceed to approve permits for these services,” Gutierrez mentioned.

Environmental Integrity Venture notes that its analysis did not measure concentrations of benzene inside neighborhoods adjoining to refineries, and doesn't replicate the actual levels of benzene throughout the communities.

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