"At the worst-performing refineries, report finds operators are not tackling recurring and harmful leaks, leading to public health risk."
"Daylight hadn’t yet slipped from the sky above Port Arthur when the residents felt the ground shake. They quickly moved inside, shut windows and closed doors, sheltering in place until they got word that the explosion at the Valero Port Arthur Refinery was under control.
The ensuing fire, which polluted the community in a black chemical plume in late March, burned for nearly 10 hours and released chemicals into the air for over 10 days.
Incidents like this one are not uncommon for residents in Port Arthur, a Texas Gulf town wedged at the border between Texas and Louisiana. Of the 131 oil refineries in the United States, more than a quarter of them are in Texas and most line the Gulf Coast. Communities like Port Arthur, which sit on the industry’s fenceline, get the brunt of the pollution — including a highly hazardous and carcinogenic chemical found in crude oil and gas called benzene.
Texas refineries have historically generated some of the highest rates of benzene emissions in the country. An Environmental Defense Fund report, published this month in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that from 2018 to 2023, refineries in Texas produced some of the highest emissions on average compared to those in other states. Further, the data, which was collected from air monitoring stations surrounding the facilities through the EPA’s 2015 Petroleum Refinery Sector Rule, revealed that rates of benzene emissions had little to do with the size or crude oil capacity of the refineries. Rather, researchers found that these emissions were far more dependent on state policy and facilities failing to address recurring or persistent leaks."
