Speaking out about standards for hazardous air pollutants
by Jane Dale Owen, November 2007
Air quality is critically important to all of us. Most of Texas is in non-attainment for ozone levels. In other words, the air is dangerous to human health. Petroleum refineries are a major source of the pollution that makes up ozone and hazardous air pollutants, especially in the Houston-Galveston area. The only U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing in the country on standards for hazardous air pollutants for petroleum refineries will be held in Houston on November 27.
It is not an exaggeration to say the pollution from these refineries is hazardous. Recent studies show that in addition to an increased risk for heart disease and respiratory illnesses, breathing toxic air means a higher risk for liver and kidney damage as well as a higher risk for cancer. Small children have developing bodies and immune systems, and are even more vulnerable. They spend more time outdoors and breathe more breaths per minute than adults do, and therefore take in more of the toxic air. This is especially true for children living near the Houston Ship Channel. Recent studies show that these children have a 56 percent higher risk of leukemia than children living farther away.
Regarding health risks, the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) allows cancer rates 100 times greater for those living near refineries than the rate for the general population. These are low-income, minority communities. It is morally indefensible to allow those who need the most help to have the greatest health risks. We must call on the EPA to give these communities equal protection from hazardous toxins.
The National Emissions Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants are meant to regulate approximately 190 pollutants including known cancer-causing toxins such as benzene and 1,3 butadiene. Currently there are no national standards regulating acceptable levels of these compounds in the ambient environment. So the EPA uses another standard, known as Maximum Achievable Control Technologies, (MACT), to measure industry compliance. To comply with MACT standards, new emissions sources must have the best and newest emissions control devices. Existing sources must meet an average of what are considered the best 12 percent of operating sources.
The EPA has been very lax in monitoring and regulating the petroleum industry on MACT standards. Refineries are suppose to be reviewed every eight years for MACT compliance. But it has been more than 12 years since the EPA has done a MACT review on petroleum refineries. We must call on the EPA to do a better job of regulating these major sources of hazardous air pollutants.
I hope that you will stop what you are doing and join me in speaking out at and the NESHAP hearings or write a letter to the EPA. You can make a difference. The EPA needs to know that we are concerned about the toxic emissions from petroleum refineries. This is a matter of life and death for some of us, and especially our children. As we continue to live in this toxic soup, health care costs go up while productivity and quality of life go down. Let the EPA and the petroleum industry know you expect them to do what they can to protect public health.
Owen, a Houstonian, is president of Citizens League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN). She is granddaughter of Robert Lee Blaffer, co-founder of Humble Oil, and the only nonscientist board member of the Federation of American Scientists.
