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

A dozen US oil refineries final yr 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 Mission revealed on Thursday.

Benzene is a identified carcinogen that is highly toxic and unstable when uncovered to air. A lot of the excess emissions come via leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and different means which might be exhausting to detect.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 6.1 million people within the US dwell within three miles of a refinery, with low-income individuals 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 site, in any other case known as the fence-line.

Nearly half of those refineries launched benzene levels above 3 micrograms per cubic meter, which the Environmental Integrity Venture defines as a long-term potential health menace.

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

“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene below the motion degree, year after yr, we really have to see enforcement from the EPA,” stated Eric Schaeffer, the chief director of the Environmental Integrity Undertaking, in a press conference. “You must start paying penalties when your fence-line levels persist,” he added.

Lifetime publicity to benzene at levels as low as 0.13 microgram per cubic meter could trigger a danger of as much as one additional cancer case for each a million exposed, based on the EPA. The higher the level of benzene, the upper the health threat.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City had the highest common net benzene levels in 2021, in line with the analysis of the self-reported knowledge. Roughly 37,000 individuals stay inside a three-mile radius of the refinery. Amongst them, 62% are individuals of coloration and 47% are low-income.

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

“People living close to these amenities have larger [exposure] to lifetime cancer risk than some other part of the state, but the regulatory companies liable for defending us continue to approve permits for these amenities,” Gutierrez said.

Environmental Integrity Undertaking notes that its analysis did not measure concentrations of benzene within neighborhoods adjoining to refineries, and does not mirror the precise levels of benzene inside the communities.

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