Port Arthur, TXThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that Total Petrochemical USA Inc. must pay a $2.9 million penalty and upgrade pollution controls at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, as the result of alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.
The upgraded pollution controls (which will cost an estimated $37 million) will reduce the company's annual emissions of nitrogen oxides by more than 180 tons, sulfur dioxide by more than 800 tons, and carbon monoxide by more than 120 tons. In addition to air pollution, the company is also addressing its handling of benzene wastewater, a byproduct of processing operations.
EPA Initiative
The settlement is part of an EPA initiative to reduce emissions from refineries. A related EPA project also requires the company to test new infrared camera technology to detect equipment leaks. These equipment leaks may contain emissions that contribute to both ground-level ozone and smog.
Granta Nakayama, EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said: "This settlement is another success in EPA's overall effort to reduce refinery pollution. With today's settlement, 86 refineries in 25 states across the nation have agreed to address environmental problems and invest over $4.5 billion in new pollution control technologies."
Benzene and Occupational Cancers
Workers in the chemicals, plastics or the petroleum industries may be at risk for Benzene poisoning, as may be painters, pesticide workers, printers, diamond miners and pulp workers.
A number of studies and reviews of leukemia and its relationship to Benzene exposure have been published. In 1997, researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health concluded that benzene was linked to leukemia -- including acute myelogenous leukemia AML as well as acute and chronic lymphocytic and myeloid leukemia.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), along with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have also shown that benzene is cancer-causing.
Known and Preventable Exposures
Scientists and industry have known about the link between benzene and cancer for more than 60 years. For example, the American Petroleum Institute noted in the 1940s that benzene caused leukemia and that any level of exposure to benzene posed certain cancer risks.
Many now wonder how many lives could have been saved if only the petroleum industry had regulated itself sooner.
As Maria Neira, World Health Organization Director of Public Health and Environment said: "The tragedy of occupational cancer resulting from benzene and other carcinogens is that it takes so long for science to be translated into protective action."
"Known and preventable exposures are clearly responsible for hundreds of thousands of excess cancer cases each year," Dr. Neira continued. "In the interests of protecting our health, we must adopt an approach rooted in primary prevention - that is to make workplaces free from carcinogenic risks."